In case you missed it:
Pawlenty appoints 20 members to broadband task force
by Arundhati Parmar Staff Writer
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has appointed 20 members to the state’s High-Speed Broadband Task Force.
The task force, created in April, is charged with several tasks including:
• Identify a level of broadband service, including connection speeds for the state,
• Identify areas that lack the necessary infrastructure to support broadband service, and,
• Evaluate a strategy – and find the financial means used in other states – to support broadband development in Minnesota.
“We are very much in favor of its creation,” said Peter Lindstrom, a spokesman with the Minnesota High Tech Association. “This goal and proposed plan will help in taking the state where it needs to go to compete globally.”
Richard King, executive vice president and chief operations officer for Thomson Reuters North American Legal, has been appointed as the task force’s chairman. He said that the group hopes to meet at least once a month, and more frequently in smaller groups, until the report is due to the governor. The first meeting is scheduled for Aug. 15, although a brief meeting may occur in late July, King said.
The task force will submit their recommendations to the governor by Nov. 1, 2009.
King’s colleagues on the task force come from academia, corporations and local government. They include Stephen Cawley, vice president for information technology and chief information officer with the University of Minnesota; John Gibbs, vice president of state government and regulatory affairs with Comcast Corporation; Vijay Sethi, Clay County administrator; Karen Smith, public relations manager for the Great Plains region of Verizon Wireless; and Tim Lovaasen, president of the Minnesota State Council of the Communications Workers of America.
All 20 members will serve until their terms expire in 2010. The High-Speed Task Force has 26 members, including the 20 that were appointed Monday. Costs will be borne by the Department of Commerce.
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The chair of this task force, Mr. Richard King, or as all of us at Eden Prairie City Center know him – “Rick” – is an Eden Prairie resident and a guy with a strong sense of civic engagement. Rick is a member of the City’s Budget Advisory Commission and chair of the City’s Flying Cloud Airport Advisory Commission. He’s also involved with the Eden Prairie Chamber of Commerce. And I would not be surprised at all to learn that he is also civicly engaged in Eagan, home of his company Thomson Reuters. So we the people of Minnesota get a fair amount of his discretionary time all ready. We fortunate in this state to have brilliant people like Rick who are not only willing to share their talents with their fellow citizens – but even volunteer to do it.
Thanks Rick!
