Columbia Telecommunications

Cheryl Johnson specializes in broadband communications analysis, cable franchise enforcement and compliance, and community needs assessments. She has worked for a number of years evaluating broadband communication options and recommending effective solutions for communities throughout the United States. Cheryl has over 20 years of experience assisting local governments, consortiums, and non-profits in the areas of telecommunications and technology. Cheryl has also served as the communications director and communications technology coordinator for numerous cities and intergovernmental consortiums. She is the former Executive Director of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), a national trade association representing the interests of local communities and governments on telecommunications matters. In addition, she works closely with the CTC management team on business development efforts, and heads CTC's Minneapolis, MN office. She holds a degree in Mass Communications from Western Illinois University.

Dave Randolph has 35 years of broad and diversified experience including 10 years in the teaching and broadcast fields and 25 years of progressive communications expertise. He has been responsible for design, construction, operation, and maintenance of thousands of miles of cable plant and numerous cable systems. He has extensive experience in franchising and operation of cable systems. He has been responsible for construction of new systems, rebuilds, and upgrades for over 200 cable systems using microwave, fiber optic, and active reverse technology. He has overseen both analog and digital addressable technology, and high-speed data. He has designed IP telephony systems for provision over cable systems. Mr. Randolph's experience includes the design and construction of an 18 GHz omni-directional microwave system in Warsaw , Poland ; 28 GHz MDS microwave; and broadband AML microwave with active reverse in the 7-18 GHz frequency range. He has overseen the integration of T1, DS3, OC-48, and proprietary formats for the provision of data and television services. Prior to joining CTC, Mr. Randolph served as Regional Vice President/Engineering for Adelphia Cable (1998-2001), Senior Systems Engineer for Cable AML (1994-1998), and Regional Director/Engineering for Century Cable (1989-1994). He holds a license as a Professional Engineer in Illinois .

Mr. Wirth specializes in the evaluation of broadband telecommunications networks and analysis of emerging broadband technologies. In this capacity, Mr. Wirth is conducting extensive research on emerging telecommunications technologies. He is also responsible for testing, evaluating, specifying, and pricing a wide range of communications technologies. Mr. Wirth is conducting extensive research on Internet Protocol (IP) technology, including video over IP for video transmission over wide area networks and video conferencing, VoIP and other telephony applications for cable systems, as well as on emerging cable hardware technologies. He is involved in preparing wide area networking plans and system-level designs. Mr. Wirth has served as CTC Project Coordinator on numerous wide-area networking projects, including, most recently, on our project to interconnect 19 Maryland and Virginia-area jurisdictions over microwave. That project involves deployment of a public safety microwave system in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The project is to connect public safety organizations in the 19 jurisdictions to provide voice, video, and data communications on a secure and private network. During this process, Mr. Wirth and his staff performed site surveys, path analysis, and frequency coordination for the microwave links to design a highly reliable network between jurisdictions. Mr. Wirth also worked with the chosen microwave vendor to ensure that the microwave equipment met the required reliability specifications. Mr. Wirth is currently coordinating with the local jurisdictions any facility preparations necessary for the installation of the microwave equipment as well as evaluating installation vendors for the microwave deployment. Mr. Wirth received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville , VA , where he was on the Dean's List for academic achievement.

Lee Afflerbach is a telecommunications systems engineer with over 35 years of experience serving local government clients. Mr. Afflerbach's expertise covers a wide range of broadband communications technology. He is a nationally recognized authority on cable systems and wireless communications. He serves as a consultant and expert witness for public sector clients and has taught numerous courses in broadband communications technology, both in the United States and abroad. Mr. Afflerbach is a licensed Professional Engineer in the States of Illinois, Delaware , Maryland and Washington , and in the District of Columbia . Mr. Afflerbach has planned and designed broadband local area networks for numerous municipalities, including Montgomery County , Maryland ; New York City ; Baltimore ; Cincinnati ; Tampa ; Santa Monica ; Ventura ; Tucson ; Austin ; and St. Paul . These stand-alone broadband networks employ cable technology to provide broadband voice, data, and video capability within and between municipal facilities. Mr. Afflerbach has conducted a wide range of technical studies relating to system design, implementation procedures, and field-testing. Mr. Afflerbach is responsible for supporting local governments in issues relating to evaluation of cable system operators' technical performance. He assists with CTC's wireless engineering projects including evaluation of wireless communications tower sites. Mr. Afflerbach assists local governments in the cable franchise renewal process, providing technical expertise on state-of-the-art network technologies. He presents workshops to network users on requirements analysis and system solutions. He conducts requirements analyses, prepares system-level network designs, provides construction coordination with cable operators, and supports network integration with existing municipal networks. Mr. Afflerbach currently heads up CTC's franchise renewal efforts for such clients as Los Angeles , Pittsburgh , and San Jose .

Maryanne Anthony has 22 years of successful experience in Information Technology management. As a member of the CTC team, she uses her extensive expertise in the technology industry on a variety of CTC projects related to communications strategic planning, network governance planning, and multi-jurisdictional network development. Maryanne has a particular expertise in assessing assess specific needs and building teams to develop and implement action plans, as well as developing industry/organization-wide resource pools. She is also proficient in the successful development and implementation of complete enterprise architecture solutions for clients. Marryane is highly experienced in regional emergency management planning. She has specific background in regional and inter-jurisdictional projects including as an appointed member of Maryland Governor Ehrlich's Interoperability Project Team. The members of that team of municipal, county, and state agency representatives researched and developed a proposal for the Governor's Office of Homeland Security. Prior to joining CTC, Maryanne served as the Director of the Department of Information Technology & Community Services for the City of Laurel, MD. Maryanne has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with an MIS emphasis from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland-Baltimore.

Mr. DeHaven specializes in video communications and broadband telecommunications technology for institutional needs. He has extensive engineering experience designing, developing, installing, and overseeing integration of local and wide area networks for institutional and ITS applications, video-networking solutions, and peer-to-peer information systems. He has served as CTC's Senior Engineer on numerous wide area network projects. He is currently involved in planning and cost estimation of numerous municipal broadband networks throughout the country. These networks utilize current fiber optic and network technology to provide high data-rate connectivity to public facilities and other users throughout a community. Mr. DeHaven assisted in planning and implementation of a state-wide network in Delaware for the purpose of providing traffic information and traffic control capabilities to transportation management facilities. He serves as CTC's lead engineer with respect to the Delaware Department of Transportation's Advanced Traffic Radio System, the first Advanced TARS system in the country. In that capacity, he is responsible for training and advising on-site staff, specifying and installing new equipment, and monitoring performance of the system. In the video area, Mr. DeHaven plans and oversees the design and implementation of video production facilities, including transitions from analog to digital production and transmission equipment. He has designed central monitoring, testing, and playback facilities; and designed and installed the communications links between facilities involved in video production. He provides ongoing technical support to numerous clients in the form of regular system tests, troubleshooting, and the design of new systems. Mr. DeHaven has also prepared long-term strategic plans for video production and transmission facilities, including integration of voice and data traffic. Mr. DeHaven led the CTC research team in preparing a web-based ITS-Communications course on behalf of the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Transportation Technology. He serves as instructor for that course. He has also provided research assistance for numerous CTC publications and presentations dealing with all aspects of government use of existing and emerging technologies.

Nori Van Elzen is a Senior Analyst specializing in project management and analysis work for clients. She has over 15 years municipal government experience and heads up the CTC Chicago division. Prior to joining CTC, Nori was Assistant to Village Manager and Public Information Officer in Skokie, IL. Her duties included oversight of the SkokieLink public municipal Internet access project and coordination of the design and build of the multi-jurisdictional fiber optic Institutional Community Network. She also served on the Skokie Community I-Net Consortium, an intergovernmental board, charged with oversight and management of the fiber optic network. Additional responsibilities included lead Public Information Officer for the Emergency Operations Team and oversight of routine communications avenues including the web site, public access channels and newsletter. As franchise compliance officer she was the Village's cable and utility company liaison for issues related to the public-right-of-way and franchise compliance. She worked with the Illinois Home Rule Attorney's Model Construction Standards Committee to draft a model ordinance for adoption by Illinois communities and served on the Illinois Metropolitan Mayor's Caucus Project Lightspeed Task force. Nori has expertise in assessing needs and developing and implementing action plans. She also has extensive knowledge in fiber optic to wireless communication networks, emergency communication needs, and rights-of-way (ROW) matters at the local and federal levels. She is the recipient of several awards for video programming excellence and two national excellence in writing awards. Nori has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology-Organizational Management from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was awarded a Masters Degree, with highest distinction, in Public Administration from Roosevelt University at Chicago.

Shabnam Shafiee specializes in communications research and analysis. She has a decade of engineering and research experience in both academic and industry settings. At CTC, she serves as a Senior Engineer, working on analysis of a full range of communications technologies and applications and providing planning and design services on municipal and regional networks for public safety, public access, and other needs. Ms. Shafiee is currently advising local government clients regarding the status of WiMax technology and its potential capability to serve municipal broadband needs. She is researching fiber to the home (FTTH) networks, in both the United States and abroad, to determine design and operations best practices. She is working as part of the CTC team to plan and design a number of municipal broadband networks to serve institutional needs and potentially offer or facilitate provision of services to the public. Before joining CTC, Ms. Shafiee conducted research on the theoretical information limits of multi-user wireless communication systems subject to intentional jamming. She presented papers on this topic at MILCOM and CISS conferences. She also has extensive teaching experience. As a graduate student, for example, she provided teaching assistance in the ECE Department at the University of Maryland in Fundamental Electric and Digital Circuit Laboratory, Multimedia Design Laboratory, and Semiconductor Technology. Ms. Shafiee will be awarded a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland in December, 2006. She also earned a Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering/Power Systems and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering/Control.

Wesley Smith has over eighteen years of experience in the data communications and telecommunications industry. At CTC, he specializes in complex network planning and conceptual-level design, as well as implementation oversight and project and vendor management. Mr. Smith currently serves as CTC network architect and project manager on several wide-area networking projects, including a project to interconnect 19 jurisdictions over microwave. That project involves deployment of a public safety microwave system in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area to provide voice, video, and data communications on a secure and private network. Prior to joining CTC, Mr. Smith managed technical studies and wireless lab development, managed engineering and contract resources for wireless and IP telephony engineering, and created and led the development of the ARINC wireless interoperability network solutions architecture and lab. In addition, He authored the Tactical Incident Command and Control whitepaper that established open standards, always-on communications architecture for first responders. He directed multi-skilled engineering staff responsible for the development and technical support for ARINCgns. Mr. Wirth has served as CTC Project Coordinator on numerous wide-area networking projects, including, most recently, on our project to interconnect 19 Maryland and Virginia-area jurisdictions over microwave. That project involves deployment of a public safety microwave system in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The project is to connect public safety organizations in the 19 jurisdictions to provide voice, video, and data communications on a secure and private network. Mr. Wirth also worked with the chosen microwave vendor to ensure that the microwave equipment met the required reliability specifications. Mr. Wirth is currently coordinating with the local jurisdictions any facility preparations necessary for the installation of the microwave equipment as well as evaluating installation vendors for the microwave deployment. Mr. Wirth received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Mr. Rivkin-Fish specializes in needs assessment and planning processes with particular attention to issues of inter-sectoral and public-private collaborations. He also specializes in advising large consortia and groups regarding the governance issues raised by inter- and intra-jurisdictional communications projects and networks. Mr. Rivkin-Fish is highly experienced in a full range of research methods, quantitative and qualitative. As a Ph.D. candidate and researcher at Princeton University , he has developed expertise in needs assessment, planning, and governance with particular attention to the cultural, institutional, and sectoral factors in successful collaborative planning processes. Mr. Rivkin-Fish also provides information retrieval services where his experience in multiple methods and research fields enable him to collect and synthesize relevant information, and troubleshoot particular information needs. At CTC, Mr. Rivkin-Fish has headed the needs assessment and governance projects for NCRnet, the regional interoperable communications network for emergency and public safety communications among the 19 jurisdictions in the National Capital Region.