FBA’s Gary Bolton recognised for dedication to advancing fibre broadband industry
Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) has announced its board chair, Joseph Jones “JJ,” presented the 2023 chairman’s award to Gary Bolton, president and CEO of FBA. Bolton received this year’s award for his management in fibre broadband advocacy and championing FBA members’ ability to advance fibre deployments across North America. His work is helping to close the digital equity gap so that every community can access the benefits of reliable, high-quality internet.
Each year, the chairman’s Award honors an individual or company that has shown tremendous effort to promote, educate, or accelerate fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). Among many FBA successes to date, Bolton’s management has expanded fibre broadband’s public policy influence, workforce development initiatives, FBA’s research library, and FBA membership more than doubling it in less than three years. He was presented with chairman’s award on Monday, August 21, during Fiber Connect 2023 general sessions.
“Gary’s passion for fibre broadband is contagious. He works diligently to create awareness about the elite capabilities that only fibre can deliver and his efforts are convincing North America that when fibre leads, the future follows,” says Joseph Jones “JJ,” board chairman at Fiber Broadband Association and president at On Trac, Inc. “Gary is a pillar of our industry and leading an organised effort to connect every American to fibre broadband services and raise the quality of life for generations to come. We are proud to recognise him with this year’s chairman award.”
Bolton leads FBA’s efforts in the US and Latin America, and represents the industry at events around the world. He has worked to ensure policymakers are well-versed in fibre’s benefits, FBA to provide resources to committees and departments. Within the last 18 months, as options were evaluated to serve the unserved, the US Department of Commerce and NTIA declared priority for BEAD projects using end-to-end fibre; the Treasury Department encouraged American Rescue Plan Act funding recipients to prioritise fibre; and the FCC rejected Starlink’s rural digital opportunity fund long-form application.
Under Bolton’s management, FBA also addressed the fundamental industry issue of workforce development. FBA published the workforce development guidebook, providing an extensive framework for how states can use BEAD funding to solve local fibre workforce needs, and distributed it to all 56 state broadband and workforce development offices. FBA completed the Optical Telecom Installer Certification (OpTIC Path) programme pilot course in May 2022 and has since spread programme engagement to 40 service providers and 67 community colleges and training institutes across 39 states.
To help ensure state broadband offices understand the economic and societal benefits fibre broadband provides, FBA published its Broadband Infrastructure Playbook for state broadband offices, as well as a series of Broadband Community profiles highlighting the economic benefits fibre is already delivering to communities across the country.
Since accepting his role as FBA president and CEO in late 2020, Bolton has led the organisation to grow its membership by over 106%. In July 2022, FBA announced that seven more of its members received All Fiber Certification. They join a growing list of 22 ISP member companies that have received that certification.
For more information on how Bolton and FBA are advancing the fibre broadband industry, visit here.
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