Broadband Breakfast on August 20, 2025 - IXPs and the Future of BEAD

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Expanding the number of internet exchange points across the United States is essential to developing greater digital resilience. The amount of IXPs – the physical locations where providers and network operators exchange traffic – directly correlate to the amount of latency in a network. More IXPs drive lower network costs. This is especially important for the economic development of rural areas, which are often the farthest from IXPs. Further, of the 630 registered IXPs in the world, only 126 of them are based in North America. Additionally, the need for more resilience within the network highlights a clear opportunity: BEAD funding that may be better served in this critical portion of the network. In the lead-up to the Resilient Digital Infrastructure Summit on Sept. 18, 2025, this panel will consider the vital role of IXPs in resilience and connectivity.

Experts Urge BEAD Program to Fund IXPs Alongside Last-Mile Broadband

Internet Exchange Points are a critical deployment, alongside last-mile broadband, to prevent rural infrastructure gaps.

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Panelists

• Tonya Witherspoon, Founder and CEO of MindScapes
• Brian Smith, Independent Communications Expert
• Garland McCoy, Co-Founder and Executive Director, PAgCASA 
• Clay Wooley, Ready.net
• Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Tonya Witherspoon is the Founder and CEO of MindScapes and former Associate Vice President for Workforce Development and Industry Engagement at Wichita State University, where she led digital transformation initiatives across WSU's Innovation Campus and helped establish the university as a recognized economic driver for Kansas. With over 30 years of experience bridging technology and education, she co-founded the National Institute for Research and Digital Transformation at WSU and served as a key leader in the university earning the prestigious APLU Innovation & Economic Prosperity designation. Through her work at WSU's Innovation Campus and now with MindScapes, she specializes in empowering organizations to harness AI innovation, implement digital transformation strategies, and cultivate future-ready talent for the evolving technology landscape.

Brian Smith has over 25 years of experience helping businesses navigate telecom contracts, circuit sales, and network cost optimization. His work focuses on physical path diversity, lowering transport and interconnection costs through smart use of peering exchanges and third-party cross-connects. He brings a practical, customer-focused perspective on how policy and infrastructure decisions impact the real cost of connectivity.

Garland McCoy is a leading figure in global telecommunications, known for his pioneering work bringing the first undersea fiber cable to East Africa, organizing 15 Aspen Summit conferences on Internet policy, and founding BITAG to address network neutrality. He has played key roles in government advisory committees, contributed to the UN Internet Governance Forum, and sponsored educational initiatives for policymakers and international officials. Most recently, Garland co-founded PAgCASA, advancing precision agriculture through innovative broadband mapping, open-source speed testing platforms, and RTK network deployment in rural America.

Clayton Wooley is a telecommunications professional and engineer dedicated to bridging the digital divide, with extensive experience serving underserved communities across rural America. He began his career at C Spire, a leading regional wireless and fiber provider based in Mississippi known for its innovative rural broadband initiatives, where he contributed to infrastructure design, deployment, and research projects focused on expanding digital access to remote areas. Clayton later helped launch a startup specializing in telecommunications infrastructure for Tribal Lands and Communities before becoming Director of Technical Strategy at Ready.net, where he serves as an embedded resource working directly with his home state's Broadband Office, among others. Throughout his career, Clayton has remained committed to ensuring that families and communities historically left behind by the telecommunications industry gain access to reliable, high-speed internet connectivity.

Breakfast Media LLC CEO Drew Clark has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing tool to collect and verify broadband data left unpublished by the Federal Communications Commission. As CEO and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media community advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.