Broadband Breakfast on July 22, 2026: What’s Happening with Non-Deployment Funds?

The biggest questions surrounding BEAD are no longer just about where broadband gets built, but what happens after deployment. As federal officials finalize the rules governing an estimated $22 billion in non-deployment funding, states are preparing for the next phase of the nation's largest broadband investment. Join Broadband Breakfast for a Live Online event exploring the new guidance, its impact on state broadband offices, and the priorities competing for the remaining dollars. How much flexibility will states have, and what will the guidance mean in practice?

Panelists

• Peter Voderberg, Chief, BroadbandOhio
• Chandler Vaughan, Director, Virginia Office of Broadband
• Bree Maki, Executive Director, Minnesota Office of Broadband Development
• Veneeth Iyengar, Executive Director, ConnectLA
• Other panelists have been invited
• Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Peter Voderberg is the Chief of BroadbandOhio, the state office housed within the Ohio Department of Development that is dedicated to bringing high-speed internet access to every resident in Ohio – regardless of where they live or work. He has an extensive history working within Ohio's state government and was serving as a policy advisor to Governor Mike DeWine before establishing BroadbandOhio in March 2020. Under his leadership, the office has administered major grant efforts including the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant Program (ORBEG) and the state's rollout of federal BEAD and Capital Projects Fund dollars. Voderberg holds a law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law and is based in the Columbus area.

Chandler Vaughan is Director of the Virginia Office of Broadband, part of the Department of Housing and Community Development. Named permanent director in July 2026 after serving as acting director since February and as associate director for five years before that, he oversees the commonwealth's broadband deployment and adoption efforts—including the roughly $1 billion Virginia Telecommunication Initiative and Virginia's $613 million BEAD program to connect more than 100,000 unserved locations.

Bree Maki is Executive Director of the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development, housed within the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Appointed by Governor Tim Walz in October 2022, she leads the state's border-to-border broadband expansion efforts, including the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant program and Minnesota's implementation of the federal BEAD program. Before joining DEED, she served as senior outreach director and state broadband and telecommunications outreach director for U.S. Senator Tina Smith.

Veneeth Iyengar is the first Executive Director of ConnectLA, Louisiana's state broadband office. Hired in early 2021, he coordinates federal, state, and local efforts to allocate nearly $1.6 billion in federal funds—including the state's roughly $1.3 billion BEAD allocation—toward eliminating Louisiana's digital divide by 2029. Before ConnectLA, he was assistant chief administrative officer for East Baton Rouge Parish. He holds an economics degree from Purdue and a master's in finance from Johns Hopkins.

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.