Lamoille FiberNet: The Times They are a Changin’
Thank you, Lisa Birmingham! Lisa is stepping down as Executive Director of Lamoille FiberNet Communications Union District (CUD) and the Governing Board wants to publicly express our sincere gratitude, appreciation, and admiration for her work on our behalf. Lisa served as Executive Director since February 2023, and before that as Grants Administrator and then Interim Director.
Lisa’s expertise in broadband, corporate social responsibility, advocacy, and local government affairs — plus experience as VP of External & Government Affairs for three Comcast regions — are apparent in all of her work for Lamoille FiberNet. In meetings as well as at the Fidium Fiber ribbon-cutting event last month, “tough negotiator” was a phrase often heard to describe her work, and the folks living in our 10 member towns are benefiting from the results of those negotiation skills as they sign up for high-speed internet. Also, the Lamoille FiberNet contract Lisa helped negotiate with Fidium has been used as a model by other CUDs.
However, Lisa is the first to say that everything is a team effort. The leadership team that negotiated along with Lisa put in hundreds of volunteer hours, meeting with Consolidated Communications’ team many times a week for over a year and are still meeting with them. Some members of that team have passed the torch to new town reps already, further transitioning our CUD leadership. For their volunteer efforts on our behalf, we especially thank Randy Tomlin, Stephen Friedman, Andrew Ross, and Jeff Tilton.
Lisa will be transitioning from a full-time employee to an hourly consultant to see us through the final stretch of construction and completion of our Universal Service Plan. It is a time of change at Lamoille Fibernet. In addition to the CUD downsizing and becoming an all-volunteer effort (now that Fidium has completed the Phase 1 network construction and Phase 2 is fully funded and scheduled for completion in 2025), our CUD is transitioning to a focus on long-term sustainability, network oversight, and grant compliance, rather than grant acquisitions and construction contracts.
“We are pleased with our progress toward providing universal service in Lamoille County and are fully aware of how much more difficult it would have been — if possible at all — without Lisa’s strategic planning and tactical know-how. As woefully inadequate as it sounds, ‘THANK YOU LISA!’“ said Jeff Tilton, Lamoille FiberNet’s board chair.
To volunteer for or get more information about Lamoille FiberNet, please go to http://www.LamoilleFiber.net.
LAMOILLE FIBERNET MISSION:
To prioritize access of unserved and underserved addresses to symmetrical, high-speed, and affordable internet service — as soon as possible.
