Broadband Breakfast on March 12, 2025 - 5 Years On: Where Is Broadband Now?

Join us for a special Fifth Anniversary edition of "Broadband Breakfast Live Online," where we reflect on five years of broadband policy, deployment, and digital transformation. Since the first episode on Friday, March 13, 2020, the broadband landscape has evolved dramatically—shaped by major policy shifts, federal funding programs, and the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For this milestone episode, we’re bringing back top broadband experts who have previously appeared on Broadband Breakfast Live Online to discuss where broadband stood in 2019 vs. where it stands today, and what could come next in the Trump administration.

Don’t miss this special edition as we look back at five years of broadband progress—and ahead to the future of connectivity.

Panelists

• Deborah Lathen, President, Lathen Consulting LLC
• Gary Wood, President & CEO, Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC) & Central Virginia Services, Inc. (CVSI)
• Jake Varn, Associate Manager, Broadband Access Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Brian Vo, Chief Investment Officer, Connect Humanity
• Rory Conaway, CTO, Wi-Fiber
• Drew Clark (moderator), CEO and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

Panelist Resources:

Americans’ Use of Mobile Technology and Home Broadband

Eight-in-ten or more U.S. adults say they use the internet, have a smartphone or subscribe to high-speed internet at home. About four-in-ten report being online almost constantly

Pew Research CenterSara Atske

Deborah Lathen, President of Lathen Consulting, LLC is the former head of the FCC Cable Services Bureau (now Media Bureau) and a seasoned communications and business attorney with vast experience and knowledge about broadband policy.  In 1998 Deorah wrote the first FCC report Understanding Broadband and most recently partnered with Paul Garnett in authoring A Handbook for the Effective Administration of State and Local Digital Equity Programs.

Gary Wood is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Central Virginia Electric Cooperative (CVEC) & Central Virginia Services, Inc. (CVSI) dba Firefly Fiber Broadband (Firefly). Firefly is a wholly-owned subsidiary of CVEC. During his employment, CVEC has established a reputation as a low cost, high reliability electric distribution company. The company has invested in infrastructure to address issues with inadequate capacity and outdated equipment, as well as to install and leverage technology to increase efficiency and member satisfaction.

Jake Varn is an associate manager with Pew’s broadband access initiative. He provides technical assistance to state broadband offices through Pew’s broadband education and training initiative. Before joining Pew, Varn served as a policy analyst for the National Governors Association and for the Bipartisan Policy Center. Varn holds a bachelor’s degree in history and international relations from the University of Iowa.

Brian Vo is the Chief Investment Officer for Connect Humanity, a non-profit impact investor providing structured credit to broadband projects serving low-income and rural communities. Previously, Brian was with McKinsey & Company's Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice and Macquarie's Private Equity Group. He serves on the Board of Public Knowledge.

Rory Conaway is an entrepreneur and technology expert with over 30 years of experience in the telecommunications and wireless industry. He is the founder and CEO of Triad Wireless, a leading wireless network engineering and consulting company based in Phoenix, Arizona. Conaway began his career in the early 1990s as a telecommunications engineer and has since become a recognized authority in wireless network design, deployment, and optimization. He is a graduate of the DeVry Institute of Technology and has worked on diverse projects, including designing wireless networks for major corporations and government agencies.  Based in Phoenix, he has just sold Triad Wireless to Wi-Fiber and has assumed the role of CTO with Wi-Fiber.

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.