By TJ Kennedy, FirstNet Acting Executive Director

This week I had the opportunity to deliver a keynote presentation at the 2015 International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE). The theme of this year’s conference focused on coordination and education, which are also cornerstones of FirstNet’s approach to planning for and deploying the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN). Many of the panel discussions and hallway conversations at IWCE highlighted the progress that has been made by public safety entities at all levels of government to increase outreach, awareness, and preparation within their jurisdictions for the NPSBN.

For my keynote presentation, I continued on this theme by discussing FirstNet’s consultation and outreach efforts over the past year. I also gave a recap of the progress we’ve made implementing the Strategic Program Roadmap that the FirstNet Board approved last March and highlighted our objectives for the next year and beyond. This includes expanding our consultation and outreach efforts and working closely with the Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC). I would like to thank the conference organizers for creating so many opportunities for FirstNet to participate in IWCE – including eight panel discussions.

In addition, it was great having many of the state single points of contact (SPOC) and members of their teams participating in the conference, including Bill Schrier from the State of Washington; Lisa Leahy from Maine; Fred Scalera from New Jersey; Todd Early from Texas; Steve Noel from Oregon; and Mike Williams from Pennsylvania. I also enjoyed seeing Victoria Garcia from Hawaii, Darryl Anderson from Ohio; Lori Stone from Maryland; Michael Britt from Arizona; Jacque Miller from New Mexico; Rob Feeley from Idaho; George Molnar from Nevada; and many other state officials and team members who work with FirstNet.

To see some of the highlights from my keynote presentation, please view the video below. We will have a more comprehensive report from IWCE in a future blog post.

Thanks,
TJ