New Mexico Broadband Program Office
Raja Sambandam, Acting Cabinet Secretary
Rand Tilton, Program Manager Gar Clarke, Project Manager |
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New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion
Broadband Advisor
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Matt Schmit will serve as the broadband advisor for the newly-formed state Office of Broadband Access and Expansion. Schmit will centralize and coordinate broadband activities across all agencies and internet service providers to focus on "significant broadband deployment and expansion" for the state.
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Schmit has served as director of the Illinois Office of Broadband since 2019. His responsibilities there have included the administration of $400 million in grant funding, community broadband planning and capacity programming and the state’s digital equity and inclusion program. Prior to that, Schmit worked as an independent technology and economic development consultant and in various leadership and research roles at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis from 2005 through 2018. From 2013 through 2016 he was a member of the Minnesota state senate, representing a district in the southeastern part of the state, where he led a 20-city statewide outreach and engagement tour focused on soliciting public input on broadband internet access and availability, leading to creation of a state broadband office. He graduated from St. John’s University in Minnesota with an undergraduate degree in political science and earned a master’s in public policy from the University of Minnesota.
“Recent federal investment in broadband gives states, local communities, and internet service providers an unprecedented opportunity to close the digital divide through universal access, adoption assistance, and skills building,” Schmit said. “No state stands to benefit more from this investment than New Mexico, and I am eager to see this promise become reality.”
OBAE April 7 2021
Office of Broadband Access and Expansion
“Recent federal investment in broadband gives states, local communities, and internet service providers an unprecedented opportunity to close the digital divide through universal access, adoption assistance, and skills building,” Schmit said. “No state stands to benefit more from this investment than New Mexico, and I am eager to see this promise become reality.”
OBAE April 7 2021
Office of Broadband Access and Expansion
Connect New Mexico Council
The members of the Connect New Mexico Council:
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Interim Chair - Kimball Sekaquaptewa
Interim Vice Chair - Luis Reyes
Interim Vice Chair - Luis Reyes
