In March of 2020, we were four days away from hosting our Telecom Executive Forum in La Jolla, California, when we realized we needed to shut our offices, send our teams home with laptops and VPN tutorials and cancel our TEF meeting. NTCA members responded accordingly with the entire world changing rapidly around all of us. I will always appreciate the good humor of Jim and Lori Costello with Lynxx Networks in Wisconsin sharing a picture of themselves in the California airport before turning around and traveling back to Wisconsin once the news of the cancellation reached them!
But here we are two years later in Arizona with 135 of our senior executives in this industry coming together to compare notes on the many initiatives on the table for rural broadband providers. You could tell by the buzz in the room and the networking in the hallways that folks are ready to be back together and to collaborate on best practices for our industry.
From leadership speakers reminding folks to engage their teams and their boards on their vision and mission along with best practices for workforce retention... to peer-to-peer discussions on cybersecurity practices, digital inclusion, partnerships, maintaining day-to-day broadband operations...to the impact of competition and why benchmarking can be a tool... to the latest hot policy topics, we all had plenty of material to discuss. Wellness for NTCA member employees was also a highlighted topic thanks to two of our GHP trustees - Russell Kacer and Kristi Westbrock - who shared all of the available tools for mental, physical and financial health. My favorite part? How our members were asked to break into groups for further discussion and networking and the increased noise volume level as members really did share their current challenges and opportunities with one another in an open and collaborative environment along with our executives who rose to the podium to share their insights with their peers.
I was also wildly appreciative of my long time friend Randy Milch, former General Counsel for Verizon and now head of the NYU program on Risk and Cybersecurity, coming to share some of what is really taking place in the world of network security and things carriers - regardless of their size - should be on the lookout for. I also appreciated his shout-out on NTCA’s CyberShare program as he emphasized the value that ISACs play in keeping critical infrastructure secure.
As is our new practice every other year, we also hosted a Retirement Readiness Seminar just for executives at the conclusion of the conference along with a half-day Emergenetics training program, hosted by Consortia Consulting, for our Women in Telecom executives. Another set of lively discussions in both rooms, for sure!
