FTTH Council Elects 2012 Board of Directors
(DALLAS, TX) - For the first time, a Canadian telecom service provider will be represented on the board of directors of the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council, a non-profit organization of more than 250 companies and organizations dedicated to expanding the deployment of all-fiber networks throughout North America.
In elections held this week in Dallas at the organization's strategic planning meeting, Council members chose for a two year term on the board Barry Walton of Bell Aliant, which is currently in its third year of a project to make FTTH available to 600,000 homes and businesses in Atlantic Canada. With that effort, Bell Aliant is now the second largest FTTH service provider on the North American continent, after Verizon.
Mike Hill of On Trac, Inc., who served as board chairman for the past year, was re-elected to a new two year term, as were board members John George of OFS, Dave Kiel of Corning and George O'Neal of GVTC.
Serving as chairman in 2012 will be Kyle Hollifield of BVU Authority, a public electric utility in Bristol, Virginia that was the first municipal utility in the United States to deploy an all-fiber network offering the triple play of video, voice and data services, and which now provides FTTH services to 11,000 customers. Designated last year by the board to be chair-elect and head of the Council's 2011 Conference & Expo, Hollifield's term of board service was automatically extended to a third year under the Council's by-laws.
The board also selected Kevin Bourg, Director of Sales Engineering and Business Development for Aurora Networks, to serve as chair-elect for 2013 and chair of the 2012 FTTH Conference & Expo.
Stepping down from the board is Steve Holt of KGP Logistics, who had served two consecutive terms and will continue his association with the Council as chair of it's Government Relations Committee.
Other committee chairs elected this week include Jack Carlile of Corning (Technology), Joseph Jones of On Trac, Inc. (Planning and Marketing), and Rob Crowell of DSM Desotech (International).
Information on the board members elected this week is provided below:
John George, Director, Systems and Applications Engineering, OFS - John George has served with AT&T, Lucent Technologies and OFS in systems engineering, applications engineering, marketing, and manufacturing for 25 years. He currently directs the design, development, and technical marketing of the OFS Access ADVANTAGE ™ System, a complete end to end optical access cabling system. He has been an active member of the FTTH Council from its founding year of 2001. In addition to being a member of the board of directors, he is co-chair of the conference program and paper selection committee, in addition to serving on the Technology Committee. As an active member of IEEE, TIA, ISO, and IEC, John facilitated the development of numerous standards including 10 Gb/s Ethernet, Ethernet in the First mile, OM-3 optical fiber, and small form factor optical connectivity.
Mike Hill, President /CEO, On Trac, Inc. - Mike Hill has been involved in the telecommunications industry for over 40 years and is an accomplished and driving force of On Trac, Inc. Having been involved from the grassroots level (installer) to the corporate directorship of a major national cable company the first 26 years of his career, Mike is a seasoned veteran in the industry. With the sale of Sammons Communications, Inc. in 1995, Mike joined a national contracting company to utilize his skills within the industry for cable, MMDS Wireless, telephony and data services. Mike has been involved with FTTH installations and deployment since 2003 and is committed to helping the FTTH Industry continue to grow and excel for the future.
Dave Kiel, Director of Global Marketing, Corning - Dave Kiel is the Director of Global Marketing for Carrier Distribution and OEM at Corning Cable Systems, and has more than 18 years experience in the telecommunications industry. Dave's diverse background includes product development, application engineering and account management. He is currently responsible for developing and executing the global marketing initiatives for the Carrier Distribution and OEM markets. Dave has both a bachelor's and master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech.
George O'Neal, Vice President Network Services, GVTC - A key architect of GVTC's ambitious five year, $35 million FTTH overbuild project, George O'Neal is responsible for all planning, engineering and operations of the company's broadband, phone and cable networks. George led the transition of GVTC's legacy phone network onto a more-reliable IP-based platform, preparing the company for years of future growth. He also supervised the extension of GVTC's fiber lines directly to customer homes, enabling the company to offer a full array of services, including phone, cable, Internet and security monitoring. Prior to joining GVTC in 2006, George spent seven years at Alltel, where he served in several network management positions. From 1995 to 1999, he was employed by SBC Communications Inc. and took part in the company's renowned Leadership Development Program.
Barry Walton, Senior Advisor, Access FTTH, Bell Aliant - Barry Walton is senior advisor for the access design and builds strategy for Bell Aliant's FTTH program, which is now in the third year of a deployment passing 600,000 premises in Atlantic Canada. Starting as a field technician in 1977 and working through various other craft positions, Barry became a business analyst on a large HFC build in 1996. More recently, he spent two years as regional manager for outside plant engineering. On Bell Aliant's FTTH project, he co-authored their business case, led the implementation plan for rolling out FTTH and has led many initiatives to increase Bell Aliant's build velocity and reduce overall costs. For the past two years, Barry has served on the FTTH Council's Technology Committee and has chaired an FTTH working committee of Canadian ILECs.
About the Fiber-to-the-Home Council
Now in its tenth year, the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council is a non-profit association consisting of companies and organizations that deliver video, Internet and/or voice services over high-bandwidth, next-generation, direct fiber optic connections - as well as those involved in planning and building FTTH networks. The Council works to create a cohesive group to share knowledge and build industry consensus on key issues surrounding fiber to the home. Its mission is to educate the public and government officials about FTTH solutions and to promote and accelerate deployment of fiber to the home and the resulting quality of life enhancements such networks make possible. The Council organizes North America's largest annual FTTH event, the FTTH Conference & Expo, which will be held September 23 - 27, 2012 in Dallas, Texas. More information about the Council can be found at www.ftthcouncil.org.
Media Contact:
David St. John
Media Relations
FTTH Council
315.849.3800
media@ftthcouncil.org