TTA 2024 TXConnect Program

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP SUMMIT OMNI BARTON CREEK RESORT | AUSTIN, TEXAS AUGUST 4-7, 2024

WELCOME TO TXCONNECT Welcome to the 2024 TXConnect Annual Membership Summit. We hope that you will find the the next few days valuable and that you enjoy the beautiful Omni Barton Creek Resort. We have a great lineup of speakers, panels, and social events for you this year. If you need anything, stop by the registration desk, located in the Wildflower Atrium. Thank you for joining us and for your continued support of your TTA! The objectives of this conference are to improve the skills and knowledge of accounting and other issues related to the telecommunications industry. Participants shall receive 1.2 hours of nontechnical and 6.4 hours of technical CPE credit for participation, and there are no prerequisites for participation. We have registered with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy as a CPE sponsor. This registration does not constitute an endorsement by the Board as to the quality of our CPE program. TTA Sponsor ID# 010670

Please take a moment to look through the TTA Code of Conduct.

BARTON CREEK RESORT MAP

CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Chairman’s Reception - Attendees and Registered Guests Cocktails and Hors d’Oeuvres

Hill Country Pavilion

7:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Golf Registration and Breakfast

Circle Drive

8:30 AM – 12:30 PM

John H. Greenberg Golf Tournament-Shotgun Start

Crenshaw Cliffside

9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Spa Appointments

Omni Barton Creek Spa

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Golf Lunch & Awards

Hill Country Pavilion

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Vendor Check-in and Table Set Up

Wildflower Atrium

4:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Registration Desk Open

Wildflower Atrium

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

Vendor Reception Cocktails & Hors d’Oeuvres

Wildflower Atrium

7:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Registration Desk Open

Wildflower Atrium

7:15 AM – 8:15 AM

Breakfast

Shoal Creek

8:15 AM – 8:30 AM

Opening Ceremony

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Workforce Development for Broadband Charlie Cano - Etex - Moderator Amanda Longtain - Transfr Cindy Fisher - Texas Broadband Development Office

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

TUSF and the Legislature Senator Charles Perry

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

11:00 AM - 11:10 AM

Break

11:10 AM - 11:40 AM

Legislative, Political and Regulatory Update Mark Seale

MONDAY, AUGUST 5

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

CONFERENCE AT A GLANCE TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 CONTINUED 11:40 AM - 1:00 PM

Lunch

Shoal Creek

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Federal Legislative and Regulatory Forecast Brandon Heiner – Senior Vice President, Government Affair, USTelecom

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

Make Some Noise: Tell Your Story or Be Forgotten…High Impact Storytelling in Rural Telecom Brandon Waybright - Pivot

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

3:00 PM - 3:10 PM

Break

3:10 PM - 4:30 PM

Market Trends and Financial Partners- Innovation and Trends in Rural Telecom Jeff Johnston and Hunter Hook - CoBank

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM

Recharge Break / Vendor Tear-Down by 4:30

6:00 PM – 6:45 PM

Cocktail Reception & Silent Auction

Wildflower Atrium

6:45 PM – 7:30 PM

Dinner

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

7:30 PM – 8:00 PM

TTA Awards

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

TXConnect After Party-Casino Night

Wildflower Atrium

9:30 PM

Silent Auction Closes

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM

Breakfast for All

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM

WiTT Breakfast

Shoal Creek

9:00 AM – 10:30 AM

TTA Membership Meeting

Darrell K Royal Ballroom

10:30 AM

TXConnect Membership Summit Concludes

10:30 AM –11:30 PM

TTA Board Meeting

Bull Creek Boardroom

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PREMIER SPONSORS

CASINO NIGHT & SILENT AUCTION

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 SILENT AUCTION: 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM CASINO NIGHT: 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM Join us Tuesday evening in the Wildflower Atrium for a fun evening of casino games and a silent auction benefiting the TTA Foundation. The TTA Foundation is a non-profit, philanthropic organization founded to help further the understanding of telephony and advance telecommunications as a career choice by sponsoring the grants of scholarships to Texas high school students each year.

The silent auction will close at 9:30 PM. All items won in the auction must be picked up and taken by 10:00 PM.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS PREMIER SPONSORS

PLATINUM SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORS Central Texas Telephone

Hill Country Telephone Cooperative

EPI Communications Consultants

JSI

GVTC

Naman Howell Smith & Lee, PLLC

BRONZE SPONSORS Bolinger, Segars, Gilbert & Moss, LLP Calix Electricom, Inc. Etex Graybar Moss Adams

NISC Power & Tel Readitech Engineering Ribbon Communications Totelcom Communications LLC Vantage Point Solutions

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS RECEPTION SPONSORS Clearfield, Inc. Concentric Critical Power GigTel MP Nexlevel Taylor Telecom

BIRDIE SPONSORS Clearfield, Inc. Hill Country Telephone Cooperative

THANK YOU TO OUR VENDORS AdTran

Netceed

Arista Networks

Nex-Tech, LLC

CableSouth Construction

Nokia

Calix

Ribbon Communications

CDG

RLM Underground LLC

Clearfield, Inc

Sinch

Concentric Critical Power

Tarana Wireless, Inc

GigTel

Telcom Insurance Group

GoCare

Texstar Enterprises LLC

Graybar

Vantage Point Solutions

Innovative Systems

Wesco

ISPN

KEYNOTE SPEAKER TEXAS STATE SENATOR CHARLES PERRY

Texas State Senator Charles Perry

Senator Perry will be a keynote speaker at this year’s TXConnect Summit, presenting the TUSF and the Legislature session. Perry is a life-long West Texan and a practicing CPA from Lubbock. He was elected to the Texas Senate in 2014 after serving two terms in the Texas House of Representatives. Senator Perry currently chairs the Senate Committee on Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs and is Vice-Chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. He also sits on the Senate Committees for Finance, Redistricting, State Affairs, Transportation, and Sunset Commission, and he co-chairs the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT) Advisory Committee and the Texas Infrastructure Resiliency Fund (TIRF).

SPEAKERS & SESSIONS Charlie Cano Etex Workforce Development for Broadband (Moderator)

Hunter Hook CoBank Market Trends and Financial PartnersInnovation and Trends in Rural Telecom

Cindy Fisher Texas Broadband Development Office Workforce Development for Broadband

Jeff Johnston CoBank Market Trends and Financial PartnersInnovation and Trends in Rural Telecom

Brandon Heiner USTelecom Federal Legislative and Regulatory Forecast

Amanda Longtain Transfr Workforce Development for Broadband

SPEAKERS & SESSIONS Senator Charles Perry Texas Legislature Keynote Speaker: TUSF and the Legislature Mark Seale TTA Legislative, Political and Regulatory Update

Brandon Waybright Pivot Make Some Noise: Tell Your Story or Be Forgotten…High Impact Storytelling in Rural Telecom

TTA ILEC MEMBERS BBT

Lake Livingston Telephone Company

Blossom Telephone Co.

Lipan Telephone Company

Brightspeed

Livcom

Btel

Nortex Communication

Cap Rock Telephone Cooperative, Inc

Peoples Telephone Cooperative Inc.

Central Texas Telephone Cooperative, Inc

Riviera Telephone Company, Inc

Coleman County Telephone Cooperative

Santa Rosa Communications

Community Telephone Company

Southwest Texas Communications

Consolidated Communications

Taylor Telecom

Cumby Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

Totelcom Communications

Eastex Telephone Cooperative, Inc.

VTX1 Companies

Etex

West Texas Rural Telephone Cooperative

GVTC

Windstream Services

Hill Country Telephone Cooperative

XIT Rural Telephone Cooperative Inc

Hilliary Communications

YK Communications

TTA FOUNDATION The TTA Foundation is focused on fostering a greater understanding of the importance to the Texas economy of reliable, efficient telecommunications infrastructure. The Foundation is committed to promoting education and research in telephony and to promote the field of telephony as a professional career choice.

The TTA Foundations sponsors and promotes lectures, seminars, and other instructional endeavors and grants scholarships to Texas high school students each year.

DONATE TO TTA FOUNDATION

TTA PAC TTA’s Political Action Committee (TTA-PAC) raises funds from individual donors to support candidates and officeholders that support rural telecommunications. It is a non-profit entity governed by the Texas Ethics Commission, and contributions are made during the primary and general election cycles on a bipartisan basis.

TTA-PAC is another way we can show support for our elected officials, and show others in the industry that we are an active participant in the political process in Austin and across the state.

TTA-PAC cannot accept corporate contributions.

It can accept only contributions from individuals.

DONATE TO TTA PAC