New awards shine a light on the people and companies that are amplifying the impact and benefits of fiber broadband

The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) today announced the finalists for the 2024 Fiber Forward AMPLIFY Awards. These awards recognize individuals, companies, and innovations that strengthen and advance the fiber broadband industry. The Fiber Forward AMPLIFY Award recipients will be announced at Fiber Connect 2024, July 28-31, in Nashville during the Awards Luncheon on Monday, July 28.

“Submissions for the first AMPLIFY Awards were filled with outstanding leaders and projects advancing fiber forward. It’s an honor to recognize these achievements at Fiber Connect 2024,” said Doug Mohney, FBA’s Fiber Forward Editor in Chief. “We congratulate the finalists listed here and we look forward to applauding the recipients next month in Nashville. We also plan to include recipients in the next issue of Fiber Forward, providing details on their award-winning contributions to the industry.”

Award Finalists:

The Fiber Under Forty award is reserved for individuals born in 1985 or later and are impacting their companies, or the industry, far beyond their years. Finalists include:

• Ashley Church, General Manager - West Region, GFiber
• Lee Mudd, President and Founder, RLM Underground
• Stephen Weatherford, CEO, Aspire Communications

The Women Changing Fiber for Good award recognizes females making changes that will impact and improve the industry for years to come. Finalists include:

• Cheri Beranek, President & Chief Executive Officer, Clearfield, Inc.
• Kim McKinley, CMO and Deputy Director, UTOPIA Fiber
• Misty Stine, Co-Founder and Executive VP of Business Development & Marketing, Vivacity Infrastructure Group

Advocacy Allstars are individuals advancing the agenda of the fiber broadband industry on the state and federal levels. Finalists include:

• Nicole Cottle, General Counsel & Director of Government Relations, UTOPIA Fiber
• Patrick Mulhearn, Director of Public Policy & New Market Development, Ting Internet
• Ariane Schaffer, Government Affairs & Public Policy Manager, Google Fiber

Company categories:

The Community Impact award recognizes fiber broadband projects enabling communities and changing lives across North America. Finalists include:

• U.S. Territory of Guam and DOCOMO PACIFIC
• Lenora, Kan., and Nex-Tech, LLC
• Berrien and Van Buren Counties, Mich., and Midwest Energy & Communications

The Product Innovation award showcases technology innovation and advancement that expands fiber broadband’s ability to deliver the services customers demand today and over the next decade. Finalists include:

• 3-GIS (by SSP Innovations) SSP Vision
• Google Fiber’s 20 Gig + Wi-Fi 7
• Nokia’s Corteca Home Controller

The Taking Fiber Further award recognizes teams working together to support community broadband fiber network expansion, including construction, planning, and integration. Finalists include:

• Clearfield, Inc.
• Greenlight Networks
• Render Networks

The Constellation award celebrates the companies that formed a coalition to advance fiber broadband networks across communities, states, and regions. Finalists include:

• Adtran, Corning, EPB, and Vantage Point
• Calix and Tombigbee Fiber

Tickets to the Fiber Forward Awards Luncheon can be purchased during the Fiber Connect 2024 registration process, or by emailing fiberconnect@fiberbroadband.org. Recipients of the 2024 Star Award, Photon Award, Gene Scott Education Award, and the All Fiber Network Provider Certifications will also be announced at the luncheon, as well as the Lightwave FTTxcellence Award recipients and the CableFax Award Fiber Provider of the Year. Tickets to the Awards Luncheon can be purchased during the Fiber Connect 2024 registration process, or by emailing fiberconnect@fiberbroadband.org.

About the Fiber Broadband Association

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 dedicated to the advancement of fiber broadband deployment and the pursuit of a world where communications are limitless, advancing quality of life and digital equity anywhere and everywhere. The Fiber Broadband Association helps providers, communities, and policy makers make informed decisions about how, where, and why to build better fiber broadband networks. Since 2001, these companies, organizations, and members have worked with communities and consumers in mind to build the critical infrastructure that provides the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver. The Fiber Broadband Association is part of the Fibre Council Global Alliance, which is a platform of six global FTTH Councils in North America, LATAM, Europe, MEA, APAC, and South Africa. Learn more at fiberbroadband.org.

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