Signature Strengths:

Vision & Leadership, Decision Making, Adapting Proactively, Engagement

Tom provides vision and leadership, guiding Connected Nation’s industry-leading efforts to bridge the digital divide and bringing economic vitality to communities through technology. During his tenure, CN’s portfolio has expanded and received acclaim as the leader in broadband mapping, planning, and program implementation.

Signature Strengths:

Accounting, Financial Expert, Public and Private Project Oversight

Bernie, a certified CPA, ensures compliance on all grants and resource allocations, oversees finances of Connected Nation’s projects and programs, and is experienced in private, government, and nonprofit settings.

Signature Strengths:

Broadband Technology, Communications, Digital Literacy

David coordinates and manages the activities of various community planning teams, including training local champions, to bring together community leaders, educators, healthcare, and other sectors to participate in local technology planning.

John E. Davies is the retired vice president of World Ahead for Intel Corporation. Davies focused on creating demand for Intel platforms via Solutions, new usage models, and ecosystem scaling. His mandate was to bring the benefits of technology to the next billion people by working with the industry, governments and development agencies. 

Davies has worked for Intel since 1978, when he joined the company as the Reliability/QA Manager. During his 37 years with Intel, Davies has worked in engineering and manufacturing, as marketing manager for automotive products in Europe, and marketing manager for strategic accounts. He has been director of Marketing for the Mobile Computing Group, and vice president and marketing director for the Consumer Desktop Products group. In the late 90’s John was vice president and general manager of Intel Asia Pacific Region where he was based in Hong Kong.

Prior to joining Intel, Davies worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at IBM and as a development engineer at Philips in the United Kingdom.

Davies received his B.S. in Chemistry and his Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Imperial College, London University.

Intel has awarded Davies two prestigious Individual Achievement Awards for establishing Intel in the European automotive market in 1986, and for driving Intel’s mobile computing architecture into the Japanese market in 1992.

Signature Strengths:

Engineering, Wireless Technology, ISP Data

John provides consultation regarding provider data for Connected Nation’s mapping efforts, including acting as a local liaison and aids the boots-on-the-ground effort for data validation as the maps are being prepared.

Signature Strengths:

Mapping Technology, GIS, Data Analysis, Cartography

Brian uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping technology to create static and dynamic, interactive maps, through the analysis of demographic, economic, and broadband data.

Signature Strengths:

Planning, Broadband Infrastructure, Community Engagement  

Eric is responsible for managing the development and implementation of Connected Nation’s Connected Community Engagement Program (Connected^sm). He also develops and maintains partner relationships and provides primary management, oversight, and support for Connect Michigan’s state broadband strategies.

Signature Strengths:

Broadband Mapping, Data Collection and Analysis, Strategic Planning

Ashley oversees the day-to-day operations of the GIS team. She’s responsible for developing strategies using GIS to provide data visualization solutions that impact policy, economic development, and the digital divide.

Signature Strengths:

Telecommunications, Finance, Program Management, Provider Relations

Stu successfully guides Connected Nation’s Digital Works program which provides digital literacy classes and job training and placement in rural and urban communities. He also manages Connect Ohio, including the implementation and development of programmatic goals, government relations, and revenue management.

Signature Strengths:

Provider Relations, Broadband Solutions, Telecommunications Systems

Wes helps ensure the implementation of Technology Action Plans developed for communities through Connected Nation’s Connected Community Engagement Program (Connected^sm) and works closely with clients and stakeholders to provide solutions that will help them meet their technology goals.

Director, Kids Impact Initiative
Senior Fellow, UCLA Healthier Children Families & Communities
Founder & Senior Advisor, The Children’s Partnership

Ms. Lazarus is a leading advocate and policy expert on a wide range of children’s issues, having spent more than thirty-five years working on the front lines for children throughout the nation. She currently heads up Kids Impact Initiative, a start-up venture to support and strengthen existing advocacy for children by increasing accountability on issues that affect children’s well-being and helping develop the next generation of advocates.
Her distinguished career includes founding and leading The Children’s Partnership for 22 years, serving as the Children’s Defense Fund’s first Director of Health in Washington DC, serving as founding Vice President for Policy for Children Now, and as a consultant to the Conrad Hilton and Piton Foundations. Throughout the years, she has helped secure improved health care, child support, access to information technologies, and other vital resources for hundreds of thousands of children and families.

Under her leadership at The Children’s Partnership, between 1993 and 2015 Ms. Lazarus helped define children’s interests in the burgeoning digital economy, creating and raising the profile of the first-ever children’s digital opportunity agenda in the United States. Ms. Lazarus helped secure first-in-the-nation technology policy gains in California and has directed the development of an online technology policy resource used across the country and internationally. She has accomplished pioneering work on the content dimension of the Digital Divide, having co-authored the first comprehensive report on internet content from the standpoint of the needs of underserved Americans and produced a widely used Parents’ Guide to the Internet. 

Ms. Lazarus has authored more than 25 reports and articles on a wide range of topics affecting children and is frequently turned to as an expert and strategist by policymakers, advocates, grant-makers, and the media.  She has been interviewed by dozens of media outlets including: ABC World News Tonight, Tavis Smiley Show, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury News, Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and CNET.

Ms. Lazarus serves as a board member or advisor to a number of national, state, and community-based organizations and companies. She served on California State Superintendent Delaine Eastin’s Educational Technology Task Force, Governor Schwarzenegger’s Broadband Task Force, and National Institute of Health’s Child Health & Human Development Council, among others. She also developed and taught a graduate-level course in child advocacy at UCLA.

Ms. Lazarus graduated from Yale University in Yale's first class of women graduates, and received her Master's degree in Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina. She lives in California with her husband and has two adult children.

Signature Strengths:

Planning, Community Engagement and Solutions, Organization

Dan coordinates and manages the activities of planning teams and provides “train-the-trainer” activities on the broadband landscape to spur digital literacy activities in support of Connected Nation’s Connected Community Engagement Program (Connected^sm) and the development of community-specific Technology Action Plans.

Signature Strengths:

Strategic Leadership, Technology and Public Policy, Management Planning  

Mark brings with him more than 20 years of experience in strategic leadership for both nonprofit and for-profit organizations and provides a unique perspective on the relationship of technology to public policy, business practices, and culture.

Signature Strengths:

Economics, Research Collection and Analysis, Political Science

Chris works with Connected Nation staff and external stakeholders to develop research deliverables and provide critical analysis. He uses qualitative and quantitative techniques to interpret data, formulate reports, and make substantiated recommendations based on research findings.

Eric Mills is Senior Partner at Mills Law Group in Inez, Kentucky, and is Of Counsel for Connected Nation, Inc. Eric previously served as General Counsel of Connected Nation, Inc. and prior to that role was actively engaged as a consultant with ConnectKentucky’s eCommunity Strategies division. There, he worked with communities in east Kentucky to develop customized, strategic plans to accelerate the adoption of technology.

Mills earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Transylvania University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky College of Law. Mills is an active member of his hometown of Inez, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Carolea, and children. 

Signature Strengths:

Community Solutions, Business Administration, Education Programs

Chris acts as the primary relationship manager for placement and development of new broadband programming both nationally and internationally. Chris identifies the broadband needs of various state agencies, libraries, educational systems, etc., and responds with comprehensive solutions. He also speaks Danish and Spanish.

Signature Strengths:

ISP Relationships, Data Collection, Business Management

Charlie conducts field validation exercises and creates reports to provide understanding of the data collected. With more than 15 years of hands-on management experience in the ISP industry, Charlie also serves as a liaison between the provider community and Connected Nation.

Grant E. Seiffert was recently appointed to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Broadband Development Advisory Committee's working group on "Competitive Access to Broadband Infrastructure."  He previously served as president of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). 

Seiffert oversaw the policy, standards, tradeshow and marketing efforts for the leading advocate in Washington, D.C. for the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. Seiffert joined TIA in 1996 as director of government relations. His main priority was the representation of the equipment industry’s interests, particularly regarding competitive issues during implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

He was promoted to vice president in 1998, directing domestic and global policy to help the association’s supplier members gain marketing opportunities around the world. In that role, he oversaw policy, including interaction with the U.S. Congress, the FCC and the Administration, as well as with international regulatory bodies and government leaders, and fulfilled the senior management role for association membership and TIA tradeshows. He succeeded Matt Flanigan as president of TIA in January 2007. Prior to joining TIA, Seiffert served five years with Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.).

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Radford University, where he served as vice president of his sophomore class and as a senator in student government for three years. He and his wife, daughter and son reside in Mt. Vernon, Virginia.

Signature Strengths:

Data Collection, Team Management, Provider Relations, Telecommunications

Chip leads the ETS team in discussions with broadband service providers on data collection and improvements, developing propagation models for wireless coverage, and providing engineering solutions for providers, communities, and states. He also oversees extensive field validation and mobile drive testing.

Signature Strengths:

Training, Operations, Mentorship, Organization

Tammy is responsible for providing day-to-day oversight of Connected Nation’s Digital Works program, including a wide range of training, mentoring, and supervisory activities. These activities provide guidance for job placement and career growth.

Signature Strengths:

Planning, Community Engagement and Solutions, Organization

Tom coordinates and manages the activities of planning teams and provides “train-the-trainer” activities on the broadband landscape to spur digital literacy activities in support of Connected Nation’s Connected Community Engagement Program (Connected^sm) and the development of community-specific Technology Action Plans.

Signature Strengths:

Community Engagement, Data Collection, Planning

Shawn coordinates and manages the activities of Iowa’s community broadband planning teams. He identifies and trains local champions to bring together representatives from local government, education, business, and other sectors to take part in the planning process.