Congratulations to Shirley Bloomfield, NTCA, for being named to this list of prestigious leaders in telecom!
Women in Telecom — Blazing The Trail
Encouraging Diversity Across STEM Careers
by: OSP Staff
OSP Magazine
In 2014, OSP is proudly showcasing 8 women who are influencing the telecom industry in diverse ways. Some are executives, others are engineers in the outside plant. ALL have unique views of what it takes to evolve the telecom networks of today into the ICT networks of tomorrow.
As STEM professionals, these women help drive our nation’s innovation and competitiveness by generating new ideas across the telecom industry. And with STEM careers growing at three times the rate of other careers, we ALL should advocate for more diversity across the STEM fields.
That’s why OSP is featuring this diverse group of women who are leading the way in 2014. In the August and December issues of OSP magazine, you’ll learn more about how they intend to help blaze the trail for more women to embrace STEM careers in the future.
Until then, we invite you to meet these leaders.
Are these women different than other professionals in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields because they are women? Maybe. Maybe not. (Decide after you get to know them in the August and December issues of OSP magazine.)
Stacey Walden Thompson
Assistant Vice President — Construction & Engineering, AT&T
Stacey Walden Thompson serves as the Assistant Vice President for Network Construction and Engineering for AT&T. In this role, she is responsible for National Centers supporting Construction and Engineering Field Operations for key projects, such as AT&T’s Project Velocity (VIP), and ongoing maintenance activities for both wireline and wireless operations to support effortless customer service. The Centers support activities across the 50 states and Puerto Rico.
Stacey joined Southwestern Bell Telephone Company in 1997 as an Outside Plant Engineer in St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout her career at AT&T she has held various positions in Network, Sales, System Development, Methods and Procedures and Process Standardization.
Outside of her daily AT&T responsibilities, Stacey is currently a mentor for both Teach For America and Women of AT&T.
Stacey graduated from the University of North Carolina at Asheville with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and has an MBA from Saint Louis University.
S. Gale Green
RCDD, PMP® Telecommunications, Information Technology, Texas A&M University
Gale Green’s career spans nearly every aspect of telecommunications technology across transportation, municipal government and higher education over her career of 30+ years. She has worked with BellSouth, Texas A&M University and is currently a network engineer in the Telecommunications Group there. Her most recent role was Project Manager for the Texas Pipes Project, with oversight of the OSP construction phases, aerial, and trench/bore operations of a $6.9 million dollar grant-funded project designed to leverage the construction of approximately 150 miles of new fiber optic plant with the existing statewide fiber network for current anchor institutions.
With the completion of this project in December 2013, her current challenge is overseeing the Campus wide DAS re-design in concert with AT&T, Crown Castle, Verizon and other carriers.
Gale is an active BICSI member and RCDD. She also holds the Project Management Institutes PMP® certification as well as Six Sigma Green Belt.
Maxine Moreau
Executive Vice President, Network Services,CenturyLink
A 30-year veteran of telecommunications, CenturyLink Executive Vice President of Network Services Maxine Moreau is responsible for planning, engineering and construction of the company’s local, national and international networks; Network Reliability Operations Center; and Network Engineering Operations.
Two years prior to taking this role, Moreau led the overall integration efforts of CenturyLink, Embarq, Qwest and Savvis, creating the third largest telecommunications company in the United States.
From 2006-2010 Moreau led Centralized Operations, where she reduced total annual operating expenses through work center consolidations and streamlining work flow processes. She led the implementation of a workforce management system to automate workflow for all field technicians, achieving more than 90 percent automated dispatch of work orders, trouble tickets and preventative maintenance activities within 12 months of implementation.
During a 7-year absence from the company, she was Chief Sales and Service Officer for Ionex Telecommunications, and Chief Services Officer for Broadwing Communications.
Rhonda Lutzke
Area President, National Region, Frontier Communications
Rhonda Lutzke is Area President of Frontier Communications National Region, responsible for operations and the overall customer experience in 12 states: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Wisconsin. As Area President, Rhonda oversees all aspects of Operations, Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Finance.
Prior to her current position, Rhonda was Senior Vice President of the National Region and before that, Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Central Region’s Mid-States Territory.
Prior to joining Frontier in 2007, Rhonda held a variety of leadership positions including over a decade of experience at TDS Telecom in Middleton, Wisconsin.
She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin State Telecom Association. She also served on the Boards of the Sun Prairie (Wisconsin) Chamber of Commerce and the Shawano (Wisconsin) Area Chamber of Commerce for several years.
Christine (Kris) P. Bennett
Strategic Negotiator, Global Network Acquisition, Google Fiber
Kris has over 30 years of experience in a variety of fields related to Outside Plant (OSP). Over the years she perfected skills in OSP Engineering including becoming proficient in right-of-way and real estate preparations required to secure the rights for construction and associated civil engineering.
From 1984 to 1998, she helped build the MCI nationwide fiber optic network, first as a right-of-way agent; later as the first female Sr. Manager in the OSP Engineering/Construction department. She managed the team responsible for planning the long haul routes, negotiating the right-of-way contracts, and maintaining all documents.
Kris successfully ran her own consulting company from 2000 to 2007, when Google asked her to join their team to help them build their Google Fiber network and other infrastructure projects. Kris is currently on Google’s Global Infrastructure team, and, in her own words: “Being a part of the Google family is truly the crowning jewel on my career. I love being a part of a corporation that is forever changing the world.”
Laurinda Pang
Chief Human Resources Officer, Level 3 Communications
Previously, Ms. Pang was Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Global Crossing, where she led global programs that supported the firm’s Strategic Imperative to focus on its people as the drivers of its future growth. Ms. Pang also served as Vice President of Global Crossing Customer Experience Re-engineering.
Earlier, as Vice President for Global Crossing Investor Relations, she was responsible for communicating with shareholders, bondholders and financial analysts. She also served as the chief of staff to the CEO and Vice President of Operations for Global Crossing, and was a member of the executive team that restructured Global Crossing during a critical phase in its history.
In addition to contributing to the restoration of Global Crossing’s reputation in the financial markets, she contributed to the success of Global Crossing’s UK business, and enhanced the customer support infrastructure in North America.
Shirley Bloomfield
CEO, NTCA — The Rural Broadband Association
Shirley Bloomfield is a staunch advocate for rural telecommunications. During the course of her career, she has led efforts to raise the visibility of the value and innovation of independent, rural telecom companies. As CEO of NTCA — The Rural Broadband Association, Bloomfield’s leadership has been a significant factor in moving the organization forward in uncertain regulatory times. Her rural telecom knowledge, ability to build alliances and visionary drive have energized and advanced NTCA and the rural telecom industry.
Recently, Bloomfield served as the staff lead for the unification of National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) with the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO). Working with the boards of directors of both organizations, Bloomfield brought to fruition a combined industry organization that was years in
the making.
Bloomfield also serves as a board member of GlobalWin, an organization of women leaders in the high-tech industry.
Julie Slattery
Vice President Service Delivery and Assurance US Operations — West, Verizon
Julie Slattery is Vice President of Service Delivery and Assurance — West Engineering & Operations, for Verizon’s wireline network across 37 states. Ms. Slattery leads a team of over 3,500 employees that have end-to-end ownership of Verizon’s network services supporting Wholesale and Enterprise customers. Her responsibilities include ordering, billing, provisioning and maintenance control centers, dispatch centers, field forces — both central office and outside, and engineering functions for outside plant, central office, and interoffice facilities.
Previously, Julie served as the Executive Director, Global Service Delivery where she led a global workforce of 2,000+ employees and off-shore vendors. Responsibilities included ordering, implementation and customer communications for all Enterprise and Medium Business Customers globally.
As Executive Director — Customer Care Enablement, Julie was responsible for Customer Care & Services, developing the strategic roadmap for systems, process and workforce across the 16,000 person organization.
Ms. Slattery began her career with Bell Atlantic in 1997.
Source
STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future, U.S. Department of Commerce. www.stemcoalition.org.
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