20 ‘unsung heros’ of Baltimore’s Google Fiber campaign: Tom Loveland

Baltimore’s application for the ultra high-speed, experimental Google Fiber initiative has been led in large part by consultant Tom Loveland and software developer Dave Troy. But Loveland took the time to highlight others who have played a big role.

• “It all started with Patrick Roanhouse, who  first alerted the local tech community to Google Fiber.”
• “Charles Martucci designed the community website and Google showcase.”
• Jon Lesser and Jim Novak built them.
• Rob Wray shot and produced videos.
• “Emil Volcheck and crew coordinated support from neighborhood associations and wrote much of the web copy.”
• Gary Davison prepared most of our winning application for Philadelphia’s Gigabit Genius Grant.
• (Then) Deputy Mayor Andy Frank and (then) Special Assistant Babila Lima led the City’s internal efforts.
• P.J. Glennon “took total ownership of the formal response, devising strategy, drafting answers, and herding cats.”
• Don Fry, “President & CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, worked tirelessly, lining up endorsements from leading area corporations, political figures, and others.”
• Shannon Landwehr “provided the precise facts and figures we needed just when we needed them.”
• Brad McDearman (now at the Brookings Institute) applied wisdom and wordsmithing talent to hone the “essay” portions of our response.
• Sam Zappas is a key strategic thinker and champion working quietly and continuously behind the scenes.
• Mark Wagner, Managing Partner of Litecast, Baltimore’s largest “dark” fiber provider, has worked tirelessly as chair of the BmoreFiber Technology Advisory Committee, collecting our community’s fiber knowledge and responding to Baltimore Broadband Task Force data requests.
• Kaliope Parthemos, Deputy Mayor, and Kumasi Vines, Special Assistant, have been delightful to work with and very supportive of our Fiber Symposium, the Broadband Task Force, and related matters.
• Senator Barbara Mikulski — “$115M in Federal funds for the One Maryland Broadband Network, to build more than 1,200 miles of ultra high-speed broadband connecting ALL of Maryland’s counties, says it all!”
• “Ira Levy, CIO of Howard County, is the “main man” behind One Maryland Broadband Network.”
• “Christopher Thomaskutty, Deputy Mayor (initially a CitiStat analyst under former mayor O’Malley) hired Rico Singleton as Baltimore’s first full CIO in four years.”

In the post he also names Lokesh Dhakar, Chris Goodman, Howard Libit, Buzz Merrick, Jason Pyeron, Mario Armstrong, Robin Truiett-Theodorson, Gordon Steen, Heather Sarkissian, Chip Dizard, Alison Haygood, John Ferguson, and others.
He also mentions that “about 20 diverse leaders of the Baltimore community have been gathering regularly since October 2010 to assess the City’s broadband assets, envision a brighter broadband future, and identify a path forward.”