The Broadband Stimulus Plan:
Preparing a Focused Application for Your Funds

Rick Cimerman

Vice President, State Government Affairs

National Cable & Telecommunications Association

Rick is Vice President of State Government Affairs at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. His primary responsibility is to aid State Cable Associations and cable companies in working with state regulators, legislators and policymakers.

Rick is a member of New Mexico State University's Center for Public Utilities Advisory Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the American Legislative Exchange Council's Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force. He is the past president of the National Coalition for Technology and Education in Training (NCTET), former co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's Broadband Task Force and former program chair for the three NARUC/NECA National Summits on Broadband Deployment. He has testified across the country before numerous state Public Service Commissions and Legislatures and has also served as an adjunct faculty member of Michigan State University's NARUC Annual Regulatory Studies Program.

Prior to joining NCTA he worked for nearly three years as the Director of the Telecommunications Division of the Maryland Public Service Commission. Rick also worked for two and a half years at the Florida Public Service Commission with an emphasis on issues related to competition and emerging competition. He holds Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Economics from the University of Florida where he studied public utility economics in association with the Public Utility Research Center (PURC) at the University of Florida.

Rick is also a former Jeopardy TV game show winner.

Tom W. Davidson

Partner

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Tom W. Davidson is the head of the firm's national communication and information technology practice. He represents clients in the domestic and international telecommunications and high-technology industries, including video program suppliers and distributors, fiber-optic network carriers, competitive local exchange and interexchange carriers, satellite systems, mobile and fixed wireless telecommunications operators, radio and television stations, cable television system operators, air-to-ground telephone systems, paging companies, equipment manufacturers, private radio operators and providers of new technologies and services. He also advises the financial community, including private equity debt and hedge funds, investment banks, issuers of private and public debt and equity, financial institutions, telecommunications equipment suppliers and other creditors of telecommunications and technology companies regarding transactional, valuation and regulatory issues related to the financing and securitization of telecommunications companies. In addition, Mr. Davidson advises intellectual property-focused, advanced technology companies in commercial transactions, licensing agreements and regulatory matters. He assists e-commerce companies with co-branding, registration, privacy, joint venture and licensing agreements, as well as relevant regulatory acquisitions. Prior to joining Akin Gump, Mr. Davidson was a partner at another international law firm, where he focused on communications law for more than 12 years. Previously, he served as a trial attorney in the Federal Communications Commission's Broadcast Bureau (now the Media Bureau).

Mr. Davidson received his B.A. with distinction in 1974 and his J.D. cum laude in 1977 from the University of Wisconsin. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Davidson is also a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the Federal Communications Bar Association, and is a member of the Virginia, Wisconsin and District of Columbia bars. Mr. Davidson is a frequent panelist at national communications seminars.

Mark Gailey

President & General Manager

Totah Communications, Inc.

Chairman of OPASTCO

Mark M. Gailey is President and General Manager of Totah Communications, Inc. headquartered in Ochelata, Oklahoma. He is currently the Chairman of OPASTCO. His grandparents started Totah in 1954. His Father was President and General Manager from 1966 to 1998. Mark grew up in the telephone business starting at the ground level in yard maintenance. He progressed into Install and Repair, Construction, and Cable splicing. He was employed by Contel of Arkansas later GTE Arkansas from 1987 until 1996. He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. He is married to Angie and they have 5 Children.

Mr. Gailey is active in other associations as well as OPASTCO. He serves on the Board of Directors of WTA along with the Oklahoma Telephone Association and the Kansas Telecommunications Industry Association. He is also involved in various Committees and social activities in and around his hometown of Ochelata.

Larry Irving

President & CEO

Irving Information Group

Larry Irving is the President and CEO of the Irving Information Group, a consulting firm that provides strategic advice and assistance to international telecommunications and technology companies, technology and media startups and foundations and non-profit organizations. Prior to founding the Irving Information Group, Mr. Irving served for almost seven years as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), where he was a principal advisor to the President, Vice President and Secretary of Commerce on domestic and international telecommunications and information technology issues.

During his tenure as Assistant Secretary, the focus of Mr. Irving's work was opening domestic and foreign telecommunications markets to competition, ensuring consumer choice, and spurring development of advanced telecommunications and information infrastructures in rural and underserved areas. Mr. Irving was one of the principal architects and advocates of the Clinton Administration's telecommunications and Internet policies, and was a point person in the Clinton Administration's successful efforts to reform the United States telecommunications laws. Those efforts resulted in passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the most sweeping change in America s telecommunications laws in 60 years.

Mr. Irving is widely credited with coining the term the digital divide and sparking global interest in the growing problem it represents. He initiated and was the principal author of the landmark Federal survey, Falling Through the Net, which tracked access to telecommunications and information technologies, including telephones, computers and the Internet, across racial, economic, and geographic lines.

Mr. Irving received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University in 1976, and is a recipient of the University's Alumni Merit Award for distinguished professional achievement. He is also a graduate of Stanford University School of Law, where he was President of the Class of 1979.

Christopher A. McLean

Principal Partner

e-Copernicus

Christopher A. McLean is a principal partner in e-Copernicus, a full service consulting firm located in Washington, D.C. Chris also serves as the Executive Director of the Consumer Electronics Retailers Coalition (CERC). Prior joining the e-Copernicus team, he was Counsel to the ComCARE Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of over 80 organizations dedicated to improving emergency communications.

In government, Mr. McLean served as Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and Governor of the Rural Telephone Bank. Mr. McLean came to RUS in January 1998 as Deputy Administrator. He was later nominated for the position of Administrator, was confirmed and served through the end of the Clinton Administration. Mr. McLean is a recognized advocate for rural consumers. He has testified on their behalf before congressional committees, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state regulators.

The RUS is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that helps finance rural electric, telecommunications and water projects, and administers distance learning and telemedicine loan and grant programs. During Chris' tenure, the RUS loan portfolio contained over $42 billion in investments in rural utility infrastructure. The Rural Telephone Bank, then a public/private lending institution provided loans for rural telecommunications infrastructure in concurrence with RUS.

At RUS, Chris championed broadband deployment, new and renewable energy technologies and universal service. Congress responded with an historic budget and new responsibilities for the agency in broadband technologies, local television service, merger and acquisition financing for electric utilities, and infrastructure investments in Alaska and other remote areas. Under his leadership, the agency made its first loans for solar and wind energy systems the first loans under its broadband authority. Mr. McLean was also appointed by the FCC and the Federal State Joint Board to serve on the Rural Task Force, which recommended reforms of universal service support for rural telecommunications carriers.

Prior to joining RUS, Mr. McLean worked on Capitol Hill for more than 15 years on telecommunications, budget, transportation and international trade issues. He joined Senator Jim Exon’s staff in 1982 and served as Legislative Assistant and Legal Counsel until the Senator’s retirement in January 1997. In 1997 he was Legislative Counsel to Senator Bob Kerrey. Mr. McLean was a founding member of the group of Senate staffers known as the FARM TEAM who helped craft the universal service and rural provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Mr. McLean hails from Omaha, Nebraska. He received an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from Georgetown University in 1985, a J.D. from Creighton University School of Law in 1982, and a degree in Business Administration from Creighton University in 1980.

David A. Olive

General Manager

Corporate Representative Office

Fujitsu Limited

David Olive is General Manager and Chief Corporate Representative of Fujitsu Limited's Washington, D.C. Office. Fujitsu is a leading provider of information technology solutions for the global marketplace. He advises Fujitsu on business planning, corporate and business development, and public policy issues affecting information technology, the Internet, electronic commerce, electronic government, telecommunications, and science and technology.

On business issues, he represents Fujitsu at various industry associations. He is a member of the Commercial Board of Directors of TechAmerica, a leading voice for the U.S. technology industry, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) in Washington, D.C.

He also works with many global business groups, including the Global Information Infrastructure Commission (GIIC), the U.S.-Japan Business Council, and the International Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Olive is currently the Public Policy Chairman for the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), a consortium of over 70 information technology industry associations from economies around the world. Mr. Olive served as Fujitsu's representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Technical Advisory Group on Taxation and Electronic Commerce and to the U.S. State Department‘s Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.

Prior to joining Fujitsu, Mr. Olive worked at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). With his appointment as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, he served in various assignments at embassies overseas and at the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Olive attended undergraduate studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and Princeton University.