John Abel
Dick Anderson
Kent Bohanon
Trevor Bonnstettor
Cynthia Brumfield
Jim Graham
Michael Hegeman
Dr. Linda Johnson Vitale
Lana Porter
Steven A. Powless
Gene W. Ray
Bob West

John Abel, President/CEO, Lightbulb Communications LLC, Vienna, VA. John is a seasoned executive across a variety of business endeavors including business development for technology companies, securing venture investment, trade association and trade show operations, event planning and development, government policy making, advocacy, and the technology and business of broadcasting and telecommunication. Team Lightbulb conducts conferences for many major associations, including the National Association of Broadcasters, the U.S. Telecom Association, the Association of Manufacturing Technology and others. Team Lightbulb also conducts several webbased seminars for private companies and for associations. John formed Lightbulb Communications, LLC after serving for five years as Senior Vice President of Membership-Marketing-Business Development at the United States Telecom Association (USTelecom). At USTelecom he was responsible for all dues and non-dues revenue generating activities, including conferences, conventions, exhibitions, webinars, publications and membership marketing and development.
Prior to USTelecom, he was President/CEO of his own telecommunication consulting company, Abel Wireless. Clients included several satellite and wireless telecom companies as well as terrestrial broadcasters and data broadcasting companies. From 1998 to March 2001, John was Vice President of Business Development for Geocast Network Systems, Inc., a company developing data broadcasting networks and applications for Digital Television (DTV) terrestrial and satellite channels. Major Geocast investors were Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mayfield Fund, Institutional Venture Partners, Hearst-Argyle Television, A.H. Belo Corporation, Thomson Multimedia, Royal Philips, Liberty Media, and Electronic Arts. Prior to Geocast, John was President/CEO of Datacast LLC, a partnership of U.S. broadcasters working to develop digital data broadcasting networks. Datacast developed technology, digital content and applications and distribution networks for broadcasting multimedia content to computers and other intelligent and memory devices using digital broadcast channels.
Before Datacast, Dr. Abel was Executive Vice President of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) in Washington, DC. He was a founding Board member of the Advanced Television Test Center and was Vice Chairman of the Systems Subcommittee of the FCC’s Industry Committee on Advanced Television Service. In “Defining Vision: The Battle for the Future of Television,” (Harcourt Brace, 1998)
authored by New York Times reporter Joel Brinkley, Dr. Abel is called the “father of HDTV.” John was highly influential and instrumental in working with the Federal Communications Commission to establish the current (ATSC) terrestrial DTV broadcast standard. Prior to joining NAB, Dr. Abel was Chairman and Professor of the Department of Telecommunication at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He served as a consultant with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. John is the author of numerous journal articles and research reports. He has served as a consultant to numerous radio and television stations, cable systems, communications law firms and other telecommunication firms. He is in demand as a speaker worldwide for his informative and challenging presentations on new communication technologies and their impact on existing and established media. Dr. Abel holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington.
 
Dick Anderson is Vice Chairman and President - Business Markets and has responsibility for $7.5B business unit with strategy, product development, marketing, sales channels and customer operations for enterprise and carrier customer markets. Anderson also serves on the board of directors of Cingular Wireless.  A Kentucky native, Anderson graduated magna cum laude with his Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing in 1980 and his Master of Business Administration degree in 1981 from Murray State University and was elected the MSU outstanding Alumni in 1994.  He joined South Central Bell as an Account Executive in June, 1981. He held sales and operations management positions of increasing responsibility with BellSouth and AT&T in the cities of Memphis, Birmingham, Louisville, and Nashville before being named Chief Operating Officer of BellSouth Communication Systems.   Effective December, 1993, Anderson was appointed President-Interconnection Services. He held subsequent positions as President-BellSouth Business Systems, Group President-BellSouth Business, Vice President-Marketing, and President of Customer Markets where he was responsible for all local, broadband, and long distance retail operations. Effective January, 2005, Anderson was named Vice Chairman and had responsibility for all corporate level staff functions.  Mr. Anderson is very involved in the local community and serves on the boards of Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Clark Atlanta University, Camp Twin Lakes, and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. He is also on the board of advisors for Kennesaw State University, Coles College of Business and Murray State University College of Business and Public Affairs. In addition, Anderson led Atlanta's bid for Super Bowl 2009.
 
Kent Bohanon M.B.A. (Murray State University), is an Initiative Security Lead for State Farm Insurance. Mr. Bohanon's responsibilities involve developing technical security strategies and solutions for State Farm's agency applications. Currently, his work includes the evolving technology of role-based access control. Mr. Bohanon holds a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications Systems Management from Murray State University, where he was an inaugural member of Murray State's Telecommunications program. He attained the GIAC Security Essentials Certification in 2003.

Trevor R. Bonnstetter serves as CEO, of West Kentucky Rural Telephone that serves counties in western Kentucky and northwest Tennessee.  West Kentucky Telephone provides internet, cellular, long distance services, WildBlue, Direct TV and has a technology store that offers computers, computer repair, cell phones and televisions.  West Kentucky Telephone is also very happy to announce that they have deployed IPTV within the last year.   

In addition to managing West Kentucky Telephone, he serves on the boards of IRIS Networks and is presently serving as Secretary-Treasurer of NRTC.  Trevor Bonnstetter has served as President of the Kentucky Telephone Association and of the Tennessee Telephone Association.  In his spare time, he works with the Kentucky Economic Task Force Committee and the Local Development Corporation along with many other committees and charitable organizations. 

Trevor is a graduate of Mid-Continent University in Mayfield, Kentucky with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and of William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri earning a MBA.  Trevor and his wife, Tami, both grew up in Iowa and are raising their two children, Tristan and Alex, in Mayfield, Kentucky. 

Cindy Brumfield is the principal analyst for Broadband Intelligence, Inc. Ms. Brumfield has just returned to the private consulting sector after 5 years with Pike & Fischer, which she joined when they acquired the assets of a broadband media consulting firm she founded in 1999. Ms. Brumfield is a veteran media and communication industry analyst, having served as a Senior Analyst at Paul Kagan Associates, Vice President of Research and Policy Analysis at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and Director of Research for The Media Institute. She is a widely quoted expert on the media businesses and author of numerous reports and studies on cable television, telecommunications, programming production and Internet finance and business matters.

Jim Graham is a Principle Analyst with Electronic Warfare Associates/Information and Infrastructure Technologies supporting communications and information integration for the National Guard’s WMD-Civil Support teams at National Guard Bureau headquarters. He was previously the Director of the Information Technology Research Center at the University of Louisville and a Technology Policy Advisor to the Kentucky Governor's Office for the New Economy. He has worked in the Telecommunications industry with ITT, AT&T and BellSouth for over twenty years and has also started several technology ventures. Jim graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School with a Masters in Security Studies and his undergraduate is from Eastern Kentucky University with a BA in Communications. He lives in Louisville with his wife and daughter.

Michael Hegeman the director of sales for Autocad-North America, has a wide set of experiences in wireless technology. He managed the U.S. wireless strategy for Hewlett-Packard in the mid nineties. He was responsible for creating and maintaining valuable third party relationships for the HP palmtop PC as well as implementing a successful strategy for managing the retail and commercial distribution channels. He has worked with EDS corporation as a director of their wireless technology group and is currently with Autocad. He has a bachelor's degree in business administration and economics from St. Mary's College in California.
 
Lana Porter served as president and CEO of Dynix predecessors Ameritech Library Services and epixtech from 1996 until 2002. She has more than 25 years' experience in the software and telecommunications industries, and is the founder and CEO of L&M Enterprises, a consulting organization based in Chicago, IL. Prior to her arrival in the library community, she held executive positions at Ameritech in sales, marketing, and general management. She is president of the board of Friends of Libraries USA and chair of Leadership America, while also participating on the advisory boards for the Snowbird Institute and for the Northern Exposure to Leadership organization. Additionally, she advises leadership institutes at St. Francis University Business School, Florida State University, and Kent State University. Ms. Porter was selected as the 2002 Distinguished Alumna of Murray State University. She holds BA and MA degrees from Murray State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from The Ohio State University.
 
Steven A. Powless joined CSI in 1987 as Vice President of Corporate Development. Prior to joining, CSI Steve worked 9 years in the Financial Services Division of the Unisys Corporation.  In 1989, Steve became Executive Vice President of CSI and in 1992 he was appointed to the CSI Board of Directors. In May of 1993, Steve was named President and Chief Operating Officer of CSI.  In August 1999, Steve was named CEO of CSI...only the second person in the history of CSI to hold that position. Steve is also a past president and Director for the Association for Financial Technology. He serves on the Paducah Public Library Board of Trustees. He is a Board Member of Connect Kentucky - a state-wide initiative to establish broadband communications throughout the Commonwealth. Steve is a Director of Western Regional Center for Emerging Technologies in Kentucky. He has served as Director and Treasurer of the Greater Paducah Economic Development Council and Director with the West Kentucky Technical College Foundation board. Steve is also a graduate of Leadership Paducah and Leadership Kentucky.

Gene W. Ray Founder, CEO, Director of The Titan Corporation, San Diego, CA - A leading provider of comprehensive information and communications products, solutions, and services for National Security and the Security of our Homeland, serving the Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, and other government customers. Served as Titan's Chairman of the Board from April, 1999 until July, 2005 when the company was acquired by L-3 Communications. Dr. Ray received a B.S. in Mathematics, Physics & Chemistry from Murray State University, 1960, an M.S. in Physics from the University of Tennessee,and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Tennessee in 1965.

Dr. Linda Johnson Vitale is Partner in Manchester Capital, a Kentucky private equity firm and a member of the Computer Services, Inc. Board of Directors.  She served as Professor and Chair of Information Systems at the Gordon Ford College of Business at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, and as the founding President & CEO of ConnectKentucky and the Center of Information Technology Enterprise, Inc. (CITE). She is a member of Murray State University’s Advisory Board for the Telecommunication Systems Management program.  Dr. Vitale was an international finalist for the Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year for her strategic creation of ConnectKentucky.  She serves on numerous community and business advisory boards.
 
Bob West, Regional Sales Director, Qwest, has been in the telecommunications industry for 15 years. He came to QWEST in the acquisition of LCI in 1996. Located in Frankfort, KY, his responsibilities are for Arkansas along with the nine BellSouth states. The major customers include the states of FL, LA, TN, NC and KY as well as higher learning institutions such as the University of TN, LSU, University of FL and GA Tech. Bob has been selected as Chairman's Club 4 of the last 5 years at QWEST. Mr. West graduated with a BA from the University of KY and he is a University of Kentucky fellow. He also serves as a member of the Tennessee Information Infrastructure Executive Steering committee, is Chairman of the Robert T. West Family Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization that contributes to many charities including the Methodist Home of KY and the Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt University.