Nominee Questionnaire

Please provide a short bio for voters to get to know you.

Lori Adams is a seasoned telecommunications attorney, strong fiber broadband advocate and senior executive with more than 20 years of experience in both government and the private sector. Lori has expertise in business development, federal and state telecommunications policy, legal and regulatory matters, grant funding, municipal broadband, strategic planning, and project management for large, complex initiatives. She is also experienced in public policy, government affairs, lobbying, and public speaking.

Please summarize why you consider yourself an excellent candidate for the FBA Board of Directors?

Throughout my career, I have been driven by the belief that every community in this country deserves access to fiber infrastructure. This isn’t just about providing robust, high-speed internet today—it’s about ensuring future-proof networks that can scale to support emerging technologies such as AI. Short-term, stopgap solutions may offer immediate appeal, but they cannot stand the test of time. Only fiber can deliver the applications, services, and innovations of the future.

I am deeply passionate about this work and have been a leading public advocate for fiber. My approach goes beyond words—I take action. I believe in collaboration to achieve shared goals, whether that means partnering with competitors or building coalitions of like-minded organizations. In today’s policy environment, where fiber is not always prioritized, it is more important than ever that we work together to keep fiber at the center of our nation’s broadband and telecommunications strategy.

I have relationships across the industry, within state governments and beyond, that I will leverage to help support the mission of the FBA. This includes working closely with FBA premier members and the general membership. As a member of the Board, I pledge to be a visible leader for FBA and the organization at large to further the goals of the association in this challenging time.

Describe your current position and functional responsibilities to your company.

Currently, I am the Vice President of Broadband Policy & Funding Strategy for Nokia’s Network Infrastructure business group. In 2023, I was part of the core team that helped Nokia achieve Buy America compliance for the BEAD program, culminating in a joint event with Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announcing U.S. manufacturing of select Nokia broadband products.

In my functional responsibilities, I lead Nokia’s go to market strategy for increasing participation in government funded programs by supporting sales teams, customers, partners, distributors and others. In this capacity, I serve as Nokia’s subject matter expert and spokesperson on all federal funding programs and broadband policy. In the last three years I have spoken at over 75 events including keynotes, conference panels, webinars, podcasts, internal events, partner events and media events as well as authoring more than a dozen articles and blogs. I am directly responsible for over 250+ engagements and filings with state broadband offices regarding BEAD and Buy America. I work closely with Nokia’s federal government affairs team on lobbying and engagements with federal agencies and lawmakers on broadband policy and federal funding program issues. This includes close collaboration with associations and industry partners.

Internally, I regularly provide executive updates across Nokia’s various divisions and product teams. I am responsible for creating and updating collateral on funding programs for internal and external use as well as meeting with customers on request by sales teams to assist with federal funding strategy and understanding of program requirements. I also work closely with sales and business operations to assist with implementing solutions on critical business issues, including eliminating internal barriers to sales as well as legal and compliance concerns related to funding programs.

What was your previous position, and how long did you hold that position before transitioning to your current one?

When I joined Nokia in January of 2022, I took on the role of Senior Director of Broadband Policy & Funding Strategy within the Nokia Government Affairs Team. After approximately 18 months, I was promoted to Vice President of Broadband Policy & Funding Strategy and subsequently moved from the Government Affairs team into the sales organization to lead the Go to Market strategy for all government funding programs and to support customers, partners, associations and external relationships directly with the state broadband offices.

Do you have any experience as a member of a Board of Directors? If so please provide name of the entity and number of years of which you served.

Yes. I served two Board terms with the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA). This national association represents local governments in telecom issues. Board Member 2010-2014; 2016-2020.

How many years has your company been a Fiber Broadband Association Member?

Since the beginning – over 20 years.

How many years have you participated in Fiber Broadband Association activities?

Since approximately 2010

Please indicate any Fiber Broadband Association Committees or working groups you have participated on including position and years served.

Policy Committee 2023 to present

Please list any Fiber Broadband Association Contributions (activities supported, assets developed, documents drafted, webinars presented, etc.)

I have been a passionate contributor to the FBA both publicly and behind the scenes for the last 15 years. I’ve delivered multiple keynotes, served on and moderated panels, presented on webinars and published articles in support of the Association. Additionally, I’ve worked closely with Gary and Marissa to share intelligence and support negotiations on the Buy America waiver, BEAD reset and other issues. The industry relationships I’ve cultivated span the entirety of the broadband ecosystem allowing me to bring a breadth of knowledge and perspectives from consultants, construction companies, manufacturers, trade associations as well as government officials at the local, state and national level.

Some highlights include a speaking role at:

Fiber Connect 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025; Regional events prior to 2020, 2023
Webinars with Women in Fiber committee, multiple FBA webinars on BEAD and broadband policy issues;
Fiber on the Hill in 2023, 2024 and Policy Summit and Fly in 2025

Please provide a short overview of your experience with telecommunications, fiber optics, and FTTH technologies.

I am a Maryland-licensed attorney and began my career in telecom nearly 25 years ago as a Government Affairs Manager with Comcast in Montgomery County, MD. I was subsequently appointed Cable Administrator for Howard County, MD, where I led efforts to secure a $115 million grant through NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunity Program (BTOP). For this initiative, I authored the grant application and then directed the project on behalf of a consortium of nine local governments and the state of Maryland, building a coordinated middle-mile network that connected every county and over 1,000 anchor institutions with fiber. To date, this remains the largest middle-mile network in the U.S. owned exclusively by state and local governments.

After completing that project on time and under budget, I spent nearly a decade consulting with rural communities to bring fiber broadband to some of the most underserved locations in the country. My current role at Nokia, detailed elsewhere in this questionnaire, has broadened my expertise to include supply chain and manufacturing, including leading efforts to negotiate the Build America Buy America waiver with the Department of Commerce.

Throughout my career, I have focused on wireline technologies, building networks and overseeing all aspects of deployment—from planning to implementation—while increasingly engaging in policy, procurement, and strategic initiatives to advance broadband nationwide.

Please describe the goals you would like to accomplish during your term as Fiber Broadband Association Board Member.

We are at a pivotal time in our industry, where for the first time in many years, fiber is no longer prioritized by the federal government as the technology of choice. This is evidenced by the de-prioritization of fiber for BEAD in the attempt to make the program technology neutral by favoring the cost of deployment over need to provide every American with access to high-speed networks and future proof infrastructure.

This presents a unique set of issues for FBA where the organization will need to come up with effective and creative ways to continue to push the federal government on fiber prioritization while also reaching out directly to Governors and states who will have a significant role in furthering fiber deployments within their states. As such my top 3 goals are as follows:

Work with the states and the federal government to protect the BEAD non- deployment funds so they may be re-purposed for fiber infrastructure to support data centers and AI in the states.
Advocate for state legislatures to appropriate state funds for fiber initiatives, workforce development and adoption initiatives to support broadband, data centers and AI to pick up where the federal government falls short.
Develop a broader coalition of industry groups including private equity companies that are investing in fiber projects and consolidating providers, fiber technology vendors that are onshoring manufacturing to support the US market, public interest groups and others to both achieve collective goals and bring in new members for FBA.

Please describe the level of commitment (in terms of time and effort) that you intend to make to the Association during the three-year term.

I commit to attending all of Fiber Broadband Association’s conferences and events. I will continue to prioritize participating in committee calls and policy events, board meetings and be present for other events as they develop. I anticipate that this will equate to approximately 10-15 hours of time per month exclusive of in-person events.

Please use this space to include any additional information you feel is important to share with voting members.

I am asking for your vote and support for my candidacy for the FBA Board of Directors.

While others may have more committee experience, leadership is about results and action. Over the past five years, I have been deeply engaged with FBA—participating in conferences and events, consulting on strategy, and shaping external messaging and advocacy. My work has delivered tangible results, and I am a passionate, leading voice for fiber broadband and infrastructure across government and industry.

Our industry faces critical challenges and opportunities and ensuring that fiber remains central to the nation’s long-term broadband strategy requires collaboration and strong advocacy. I hope I can count on your support and partnership as we work together to advance this mission.

Thank you for your consideration.