Members of the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA), which includes representation from across the industry including Google Fiber, Graybar, OFS and others, elected EPB Vice President, Government and Community Relations Evann Freeman to a three-year term on its Board of Directors beginning in 2024.
At the end of 2023, EPB Vice President, Katie Espeseth, known for her critical role in helping to launch EPB’s fiber optic services, completes six years of service on the board. During her tenure on the FBA board, Espeseth served as Chair in 2020 and 2021 and acted as the board liaison for FBA’s Women in Fiber Committee. She also delivered innumerable public presentations about EPB’s experience of launching community-wide fiber optic internet service.
“Participation in the Fiber Broadband Association is important for EPB because it gives us access to industry-leading best practices and allows us to share our experience in deploying a fiber optic network with other community-based providers as they expand broadband in their own communities,” said EPB President and CEO David Wade.
In his new role as a board member, Freeman expands his participation in the nation’s largest and only trade association that represents the complete fiber broadband ecosystem. Prior to joining the board, he worked with FBA’s Public Policy Committee, and he will continue to serve as chair of FBA’s Conference Committee, with responsibility for helping to plan and coordinate the annual Fiber Connect conference, which hosted nearly 4,000 attendees in 2023.
“The Fiber Broadband Association and EPB are well aligned in the commitment to advancing quality of life and digital equity through the deployment of fiber broadband infrastructure,” said FBA President and CEO Gary Bolton.
“EPB’s aspirational story of offering the world’s first Gig-speed community-wide internet service, and how they stay on the global forefront with service up to 25 Gig, is a world-class achievement in our industry, and we appreciate their continued leadership and generosity to help other municipalities and FBA member companies join with them in building the future for generations to come.”
Freeman is a Chattanooga native and serves on several non-profit boards, including the Urban League, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Tennessee Municipal Power Association, Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Georgia Chamber of Commerce and Chattanooga Tourism Company, among others.
With the mission of “enhancing quality of life in our community,” EPB is a municipal utility that delivers world-class energy and connectivity services to Chattanooga, and the surrounding area.
Since switching the lights on for its first electric customer in 1939, EPB has grown to serve a 600-square-mile service area with cutting-edge infrastructure that integrates power distribution and telecommunications with customer benefit at the center of all its efforts. The Fiber Broadband Association is the largest and only trade association that represents the complete fiber ecosystem of service providers, manufacturers, industry experts, and deployment specialists.