Aggregate a list of potential guest speakers RE: open_internet

[jqtrde]

• [ ] Whoever is behind what's happening in Rockland?

[Cribstone]

In 2013, we were invited by Sarah Curran, of Planning Decisions Inc. to present about the internet and public engagement to the "Governors Broadband Capacity Building Task Force". The meeting minutes and other documents can be found in our GDocs at- https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_H1RMCybuylVTJZaHpJcmNSRU0&usp=sharing

Planning Decisions Inc. http://www.planningdecisions.com/ is a private consulting firm (I think their their only firm licensed to do planning research in the state) who was contracted by the Task Force to provide a report on improving Broadband Access. They were the ones who brought us in to discuss how the web can be used for improving citizen engagement. Our contact for the meeting was Sarah Curran but we also connected with Frank O'Hara, the firms Vice President. Either one of them would be a good guest to present on their findings.

[Cribstone]

This is the list of Governors Task Force Members who we presented to-

Edwina Ducker, Rural Health Manager for the Maine Office of Rural Health and Primary Care, an expert on health information technology; Kenneth Fletcher, Director, Maine Office of Energy Independence and Security, whose background includes expertise in the paper and pulp industry; Allyson Handley, President, University of Maine at Augusta, who leads distance learning activities for the University of Maine System; George Hogan, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Wright Express, a person with an understanding of the broadband capacity needs for a global business headquartered in Maine; Christopher Jerome, Senior Vice President of Risk Operations, Unum, who oversees claims management activities for all of Unum’s domestic operations; Peter Mills, Executive Director, Maine Turnpike Authority, who has expertise in Maine’s finances and government; Bob Montgomery-Rice, Executive Vice President, Bangor Savings Bank, a person with knowledge of the way broadband is changing the finance business; and Ryan Pelletier, Director of Workforce Development, Northern Maine Development Commission, who works in the nexus between technical education and economic development in rural Maine.

[Cribstone]

The ConnectME Authority is the primary state government agency in charge of implementing broadband policy. A connection with them is critical! This is a list of their board members-

ConnectME Authority Members Jean Wilson, Chair

Jean Wilson is the Senior Vice President of Information Services at LL Bean in Freeport, ME. Prior to her 14 years at LL Bean, Jean worked at UNUM Life Insurance Company for 11 years where she held a variety of leadership roles in Information Technology and Risk Management. She began her career as a computer programmer at Merrill Lynch and Chemical Bank in New York City.

Jean graduated summa cum laude from Bates College with a major in mathematics. She went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Statistics at New York University. Jean currently has membership on the Board of Trustees for the Cancer Community Center, the Advisory Board for the Bates Dance Festival, and the USM Computer Science Advisory Council.

Dick Thompson

Dick Thompson joined the University of Maine System Executive Team on April 1, 2011, as the incoming Chief Information Officer.

During the last year, Dick served T4G as a Principal Consultant focused on federal, state/provincial and local governments. Before entering the private sector, he worked for the state of Maine for 33 years and was the third-longest serving state CIO in the United States. He has been credited with overhauling the state of Maines IT infrastructure through innovative and cost-effective solutions.

Dick has long given his time to various boards from the Main State Credit Union to organizations mandated to expand access to digital technology across Maine. He most recently worked to build consensus on the development of middle mile broadband capacity in Maine. His leadership and approach helped this diverse group to achieve agreement on legislation that was ultimately passed and signed by the Governor in the spring of 2010.

In 2005, he began to consolidate Maines executive branch's IT into a single unit from 23 disparate IT units. He created the Office of Information Technology where the states 500 IT workers efficiently brought together core functions like e-mail, infrastructure and data sharing across state agencies while establishing a Chief Security Officer and implementing a Project Management Office. A hallmark if Dicks service was attention to customer service and engagement of IT and Agency leaders in the planning and decision process. During his tenure he was active with national leaders in HIT and privacy issues.

In March, 2010, Government Technology Magazine selected Dick as one of the Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in the U.S. for his accomplishments in delivering technology services to the citizens of Maine.

In October of 2009, Dick received the 2009 Meritorious Service Award from the National Association of Chief Information Officers for outstanding service, advocacy and leadership in state government.

Prior to his service as State CIO, Dick held the position of Director of the Division of Purchases for 12 years. He was an active participant in steering committees and contract development teams responsible for the procurement and implementation of Accounting, HR/Payroll and Budget systems. He led the effort to develop an e-procurement system in Maine State Government in the late 1990s.

Greg McNeal

Greg McNeal, the State’s Chief Technology Officer, has taken the position as Acting Chief Information Officer for Maine State Government, working within the Department of Administrative and Financial Services effective July 01, 2010. He has been the State’s Chief Technology Officer since 2005.

In his former position as the Chief Technology Officer, he was responsible for the overall management and direction for all operational information technology services including enterprise applications, network services (data, voice, and radio), client technology services, enterprise operations, and the state’s radio network. As new technologies emerge, the CTO identifies and addresses potential impacts on state agencies and programs. The CTO worked closely with the state’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) as well as Agency Information Technology Directors. The CTO ensured the continued success of operational areas while also striving to minimize costs, maximize employee performance and support, and optimize equipment use.

Prior to joining OIT, Greg was a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps. He retired in 1996 after a successful 24 year career. His experience included over twenty years working in the field of information technology, holding a variety of technical and leadership positions. A native Mainer, Greg moved back to Maine and started a second career working for the Department of Transportation as the Deputy Director of Information Services. Greg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Thomas College and has graduated from Harvard J.F.K. School of Government: Leadership for the 21st Century.

Ralph Johnson

Ralph Johnson joined Franklin Community Health Network in Farmington in 2006 as chief information officer (CIO). He has worked in the health care information field since 1984, with most of that time in leadership positions. Ralph was the associate vice president of information services at Maine Medical Center from 1999 until he moved to Farmington. Prior to his employment at Maine Medical Center, Ralph was the director of information services at the former Mid-Maine Medical Center in Waterville.

In 2007, Franklin Community Health Network (FCHN) led a consortium of health care providers to receive an award from the Federal Communications Commission to bring broadband to western and central rural Maine. The project connected high capacity fiber optic cables to 11 health care facilities, including four hospitals. Franklin Memorial Hospital, an affiliate of FCHN, has been recognized as one of the nation’s “Most Wired” hospitals, demonstrating the ability for a small rural hospital to leverage technology to improve health care.

Ralph is a certified health care CIO, and the first health care CIO in Maine to receive that recognition from the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Ralph is active in the Health Information Systems Management Society, the Healthcare Finance Management Association, and the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives. Since the inception of HealthInfoNet in 2007, Ralph has also volunteered his time to establish a statewide health information exchange to improve the quality and outcomes of patient care in Maine.

Thomas L. Welch

Tom Welch was appointed to the Maine Public Utilities Commission as Chair in April 2011. He had previously served as Chair of the Commission from 1993-2005. Between his Commission appointments, Commissioner Welch worked for PJM Interconnection, a Pennsylvania-based Regional Transmission Organization, and for five years was an attorney at Pierce Atwood, LLP, in Portland, Maine, specializing in energy and utility law.

Before moving to Maine in 1993, he served as Chief Deputy Attorney General for Antitrust in the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, in-house counsel for Bell Atlantic, and Assistant Professor at Villanova University School of Law.

Commissioner Welch graduated from Stanford University in 1972 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1975. His term on the Commission expires March 2017.

[Cribstone]

Out of State Guests

Anthony Townsend-Author Anthony and I connected after I saw his balls-o-riffic presentation at the 2012 CfASummit and he came to my session on Civic Making at TransportationCampDC. He's best known for his recent book that critiques the corporate model for "Smart Cities" but few people know that he's been an advocate for free public internet since the 1990s. He's been organizing one of the Open technology Institutes community wireless projects in New Jersey at http://www.milemesh.com/. He's also a Prof. at NYU and a Fellow at the Data and Society Thinktank which is on my list of possible funders.

Georgia Bullen-New America Foundation/Commotion Wireless- Georgia is another good friend of mine who I met with Anthony. She's been coordinating the Commotion Wireless project at the New America Foundation's, Open Technology Institute. We've been working to get a Commotion Network set up in Maine for over two years now because it would serve as a demo for rural regions. The OTI and NAF are both heavily interested in open internet access and also represent a major funding opportunity.

Bradley Holt, Captain Code for BTV Burlington VTs Code for BTV is our closest cousin in more ways then simple geography. For one thing, Vermont and Maine share the same Gigabit infrastructure and both UVM and UMaine are part of the same Gigabit consortium. Most importantly, Code for BTV has built a city wide Civic Cloud that serves as the perfect model.

J.R.Baldwin-Bubbl.li/Commotion Wireless creator I just learned about J.R last night, but have been so blown away by his work, I would love to bring him into the project somehow! While still in college, and part of the Occupy thing, he designed TidepoolsWiFi the basis of which eventually became the core for Commotion Wireless. The best part is the whole point of the Tidepools was to create a counter-surveillance camera network to monitor the NYPD! The fact that he's fluent in both OpenWRT-networking AND well-designed, cloud based interfaces makes him a rare bird!

[jqtrde]

Going to close this on account of it being a bit stale. Please feel free to reopen if you think otherwise!