Resilient Critical Infrastructure Program

Resilient Critical Infrastructure Progam

A one-day conference on Sept. 18, 2025, on securing America's vulnerable digital infrastructure

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The Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit

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Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit

September 18, 2025 | Washington, D.C.
8:30 a.m. – 1:45 p.m., Clyde’s of Gallery Place

A One-Day Summit on Securing America’s Critical Infrastructure

America’s digital and energy systems face a critical test. Rising threats, soaring energy demands, and the race for AI dominance all point to one truth: infrastructure resilience is no longer optional.

Keynote Speech: Jase Wilson, Founder & CEO, Ready.net

America's vulnerable critical infrastructure is under siege, and traditional approaches are failing us. Rising demand for energy, compute, and storage reflects a growing need to invest in AI at the edge. In an increasingly uncertain world, America must rethink infrastructure from the ground up.

In this timely keynote, Ready.net founder and CEO Jase Wilson will reveal the seven key principles for resilient critical infrastructure. America’s position as the global leader in technology depends on infrastructure that can support the AI revolution and withstand threats ranging from natural disasters to tactical EMPs. This session will outline what it truly takes to stay strong in the face of disruption and build systems ready for whatever comes next.

Panel: Feeding the Global AI Network

Artificial intelligence is the top technology priority of the Trump Administration. The U.S. seeks to maintain its competitive edge. The administration's AI Action Plan will require a significant boost in the number of American data centers, at a time when power is straining to support the existing boom. How are data centers central to the AI action plan? Equally important, how will AI training and AI inference impact critical (telecom and energy) networks? How can we boost the resilience of our nation's critical infrastructure?

Panelists:

Paul Brownell, Head of Global Public Policy & Government Affairs, Equinix
Ed d’Agostino, Vice President, DE-CIX North America
Carol Lane, Vice President of Government Relations, X-energy
Rishi Iyengar (moderator), Global Technology Reporter, Foreign Policy

Fireside Chat on IXPs, Smart Infrastructure and Critical Infrastructure

A session on expanding broadband access by strengthening communities, driving economic opportunity, and enhancing national resilience.

Participants:

Brent Legg, Executive Vice President, Connected Nation
Drew Clark (moderator), CEO, Broadband Breakfast

Panel: National Security and Connectivity

Building network resilience in today's geopolitically volatile environment requires organizations and nations to develop comprehensive preparedness strategies that address both traditional threats like natural disasters and emerging challenges including cyberwarfare, electromagnetic pulse and other infrastructure vulnerabilities. Effective resilience must integrate robust backup systems for essential services, diversified supply chains, and layered security. How can our nation maintain a network of resilient critical infrastructure?

Panelists:

Ambassador Steve Lang, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy
Ed Mortimer, Vice President of Government Affairs, NextNav
Melissa Newman, Vice President of Government Relations, Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)
Stephen Snyder, Partner, Womble Dickinson Bond
Ambassador David Gross (Ret.) (moderator), Partner, Wiley

Presenter Bios

Featured Keynote Speaker

Jase Wilson is the founder and CEO of Ready.net, a Public Benefit Corporation advancing resilient infrastructure for essential utility services. A serial entrepreneur at the intersection of technology and public service, Jase brings two decades of experience helping governments modernize critical systems. He studied at MIT, founded multiple civic-focused startups, and has remained passionate about building for a networked world. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he works with the talented Ready team on their mission to connect & protect America.

Presenter and Panelist Bios

Paul Brownell is Head of Global Public Policy & Government Affairs at Equinix, Inc., the world’s leading colocation data center and interconnection provider. In this role, he leads the government affairs team and designs and implements the company’s global public policy strategies. Previously, he led public policy and government affairs in Europe for the open-source software company, Red Hat. Prior to living in Europe, Paul led Dell Inc.’s Federal Government Affairs team in Washington, DC. He also represented the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and the American Electronics Association (AeA) before the US government.

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.

Ed d’Agostino serves as Vice President of DE-CIX North America, where he plays a central role in expanding the company’s internet exchange and interconnection ecosystem across major U.S. markets. He has driven strategic infrastructure upgrades and market growth in key hubs such as Dallas, New York, Chicago, and Houston. Under his leadership, DE-CIX has enhanced regional network resilience and capacity to meet evolving bandwidth and latency demands.

Rishi Iyengar is the global technology reporter at Foreign Policy, covering the intersection of geopolitics and technology. Prior to joining FP, he spent six years at CNN Business as India editor in New Delhi and a technology writer in San Francisco, after two years reporting for Time magazine from Hong Kong. He received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Fergusson College in Pune, India, a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and is an alumnus of the Young India Fellowship.

Ambassador David Gross, a partner at Wiley, is widely recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on international telecommunications and Internet policies, having addressed the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and led more U.S. delegations to major international telecommunication conferences than anyone else in modern history. Noted as bringing "innovation and vision to the rapidly changing TMT industry" by Who's Who Legal and as one of the "Top 30 Telecommunications lawyers in the world" by Euromoney, David draws on more than 30 years of experience as a lawyer, global policymaker, and corporate executive to assist U.S. companies seeking to enter or expand international businesses. He also advises non-U.S. companies, and industry organizations seeking to invest in, monitor, and understand the U.S. and international markets, as well as national governments.

Carol Lane is Vice President of Government Relations at X-energy, a company specializing in advanced nuclear reactor design and fuel manufacturing. In this role, she leads the company's strategic engagement with Congress and the executive branch, with a particular focus on the Department of Energy, NASA, and the Department of Defense, advancing X-energy's cutting-edge technologies and business initiatives.

Ed Mortimer serves as Vice President of Government Affairs at NextNav, where he leads engagement with government officials, agencies, and industry associations. As a principal advocate for developing terrestrial complement and backup systems to GPS, Ed educates policymakers—particularly on Capitol Hill—about the critical importance of resilient positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) technologies using 5G Broadband Spectrum. With over 30 years of experience, Ed has built a distinguished career at the intersection of public and private sectors, demonstrating expertise in government affairs within the technology and infrastructure domains.

Ambassador Steve Lang is a seasoned U.S. diplomat with over 30 years of experience, recently serving as the U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy with the rank of Ambassador, a position he held until July 25, 2025. He previously held influential roles in global tech and communications policy, including Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Information and Communications Policy since November 2022, and postings in Tokyo, Mexico City, and other international assignments. In September 2025, he transitioned to the private sector as a senior advisor to Crest Hill Advisors, leveraging his deep expertise at the intersection of diplomacy, technology, and telecommunications policy.

Brent Legg serves as Executive Vice President at nonprofit Connected Nation, where he leads the organization’s joint venture to establish neutral Internet Exchange Point (IXP) facilities in unserved markets across the United States. Mr. Legg has more than 23 years of experience working at the intersection of technology, politics, and public policy, with a focus on mapping, planning, K-12 school connectivity, and infrastructure development. He has provided testimony before the U.S. Congress and the legislatures of 14 states, and has authored dozens of regulatory filings and reports, including the State of Alaska’s broadband plan. He is a graduate of Transylvania University with a degree in political science and was a 2002 Hansard Scholar at the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom.

Melissa Newman has over 20 years of experience as a seasoned Executive in telecommunications companies with expertise in government affairs, public relations and legal. Recently, Melissa worked at Transit Wireless as Vice President of External Affairs and Senior Legal Counsel in New York City. Prior to this position, Melissa worked at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, a premier telecommunications law firm in Washington, DC. Melissa spent 18 years at CenturyLink/Qwest/US West as Vice President, Federal Policy and Regulatory Affairs responsible for developing and implementing the company’s federal regulatory advocacy. Melissa also served as Deputy Division Chief of the Policy Division in the Common Carrier Bureau of the FCC, and as Legal Counsel to the Common Carrier Bureau Chief.

Stephen Snyder, Partner at Womble Dickinson Bond, represents energy clients in a broad range of transactions and regulatory, compliance, and litigation matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and state regulatory commissions. His transactional representations include advising independent power producers, transmission-owning utilities, pipeline companies, renewable, energy storage, and traditional project developers, electric cooperatives, and lenders in drafting and negotiating wholesale and retail power purchase agreements; generation and transmission interconnection, affected system, and distribution service agreements; electric generation and transmission facility purchase and sale and financing agreements; fuel supply, O&M, operator, off-take and energy services agreements; pipeline gathering, storage, and interconnection agreements; renewable power purchase and lease arrangements, and REC purchase and sale agreements; and physical and financial power and gas commodity agreements.

Silver Sponsors

1Finity, a Fujitsu company, is a global provider of communications networks for our connected world. We uniquely combine technological leadership and expertise in open optical and wireless networking, network automation, and applied AI/ML to design, build, operate, and maintain critical digital communications network infrastructure.

INCOMPAS, the internet and competitive networks association, is the leading trade association advocating for competition policy, innovation, and economic development. INCOMPAS represents internet, competitive communications, infrastructure, energy, and technology companies both large and small. Our members are catalysts for creating economic growth and improving the quality of life of all Americans through technological innovation, new services, and greater choice for consumers and businesses.

The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) - the trusted association for the connected world, represents more than 400 organizations that enable high-speed communication networks and accelerate next-generation technology innovation. As a member-driven organization, TIA advocates for our industry in the U.S. and internationally, develops critical standards, manages technology programs, and improves business performance, all to advance trusted global connectivity.

About the Resilient Critical Infrastructure Summit

The Resilient Critical Infrastructure Investment Summit will explore how public and private sector leaders prepare to respond. Discussions will range from ensuring universal last-mile BEAD implementation, middle mile interconnections to internet exchange points and data centers, threats to the internet backbone connections and interstate electricity transmission lines, plus securing the nation’s energy infrastructure. This event will provide practical insights and strategic guidance for building high-performance and resilient digital infrastructure networks.

What to Expect

This one-day summit brings together leaders from government, industry, and national security to explore how the nation can protect and strengthen the infrastructure our economy and defense depend on.

A Framework for Resilience: Learn guiding principles for strengthening America’s infrastructure in an era of rising threats and rapid technological change.
Cross-Sector Perspectives: Hear candid insights from leaders across government, energy, and broadband on shared challenges and emerging solutions.
National Security Lens: Understand why resilient infrastructure is not just about connectivity or economics, it is fundamental to defense and stability.
Actionable Takeaways: Leave with practical strategies and policy insights to help decision makers and industry leaders build stronger, smarter systems.