During the 2023 Rural Telecom Industry Meeting and EXPO (RTIME) NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association recognized 10 rural telecom leaders who have shown exceptional commitment to their communities and the broadband industry.
The NTCA Excellence Awards recognize broadband providers who have exceeded expectations to support their customers and community members and to advance communications services in rural America. Winners are selected by the association’s Awards Committee comprising NTCA members. The 2022 NTCA Excellence Awards are sponsored by JSI and Nandi Security.
“We are very fortunate to be surrounded by such talented, generous and accomplished individuals in the telecommunications industry, and I am delighted to present them with the 2022 Excellence Awards,” said NTCA Chief Executive Officer Shirley Bloomfield. “The winners exemplify the values of dedication, service and innovation in their work and communities. I want to congratulate and thank each of them for their contributions to our industry.”
The winners of the 2022 Excellence Awards are:
Associate Member Outstanding Achievement Award: Leo Staurulakis, co-chair of the board at JSI, for his service on the Associate Member Advisory Council and as a board member of the Foundation for Rural Service and for his support of the NTCA Rural Broadband PAC. Staurulakis has dedicated his time and financial support to NTCA events, serving as a speaker, sponsor and consistent presence at decades of NTCA conferences.
Community Outreach Award: Paul Beale, outside sales and community relations manager at Taylor Telecom (Merkel, Texas), for his leadership of Taylor’s involvement with the local Care Packs for Kids program that delivers backpacks containing food for the weekend to each school for schoolchildren in need. Beale also personally donated and coordinated donations of supplies to affected families during several severe weather-related events in the community.
Heroism Award: Kerry Westbrook and Jeff Pitts of Farmers Telecommunications Cooperative (Rainsville, Alabama) for helping a stranded, injured motorist who was trapped in his car down an embankment in a remote area. Westbrook stayed with the motorist while Pitts moved to an area where he could call 911 for assistance.
James L. Bass Director Life Achievement Award: William J. Allen, immediate past president of Randolph Communications (Asheboro, North Carolina), for more than 35 years of service in several officer positions on the board at Randolph. He has also served on numerous other boards and is active in many organizations in his North Carolina community.
James L. Bass Manager Life Achievement Award: Doug Boone, executive vice president of strategic initiatives at Premier Communications (Sioux Center, Iowa), for his 20-year tenure as CEO at Premier. Boone led a small, single exchange company with roughly 5,000 access lines, 20 employees, and $13 million dollars of plant-in-service and grew it into a company with more than 21,000 internet subscribers, 100 employees, and $200 million dollars of plant-in-service.
Special Life Achievement Tribute: David Crothers (posthumous), for his 34 years as chief executive officer of the Broadband Association of North Dakota.
Key Employee Award: Dale Thompson, engineer at Park Region Mutual Telephone (Underwood, Minnesota). Thompson has worked at Park Region for more than 50 years, beginning in 1971 working weekends on the construction crew plowing drops. Today Thompson leads Park Region’s fiber-to-the-home builds.
Innovation Award: Gary Enloe, director of product development at MTA (Palmer, Alaska), for creating the Rate Reach Calculator, which allows engineers to quickly develop XDSL profiles. Implementing the Rate Reach Calculator has allowed MTA to take much complexity out of the profile design process. Now MTA is better equipped to expand reliable broadband access in the rural areas as quickly as possible during Alaska’s short construction season.
Outstanding Marketing Achievement Award: Janine Fajardo, marketing coordinator at Plateau Telecommunications (Clovis, New Mexico), for revamping the company’s digital marketing efforts. Plateau saw a 105% increase in new users to its website, a 235% increase in page views and a 64% increase in average pages visited per session with page clicks increasing by nearly 200%.