Nominee Questionnaire

Please provide a short bio for voters to get to know you.	David Eckard is currently the Vice President of the Broadband Partners at Nokia overseeing the company’s response to the historical influx of capital from the various federal and state funding programs that aims to close the digital inequities in our country. Since 1999, David has been a key contributor, advocate and industry leader for the creation and adoption of fiber access in the United States and around the world. He brings a unique multi-disciplinary perspective to the industry and serves as a trusted consultant to executives, policy makers and industry decision makers on market and technology challenges. He previously has held various leadership positions in Nokia as the VP of Strategy and Technology of North America, VP of Business Strategy for the Optical Networking Product Division and the Chief Technology Officer for the Fixed Networks division. He has overseen the development and investment of key enabling technologies that has allowed Nokia to be a trusted partner for next generation fiber networks. David is a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff, holds many patents in optical access technologies, has represented Nokia in standardization forums for next generation optical access networks and resides on the boards of various trade associations representing Nokia. David holds BS in Electrical Engineering, BS in Computer Engineering and a Masters of Science in Computer Networking from North Carolina State University and resides in North Carolina.
Please explain why you consider yourself an excellent candidate for the Board of Directors of the Fiber Broadband Association.	Like many of the candidates for the Board of Directors, I have been contributing to this industry for over two decades. What makes me an excellent candidate is that I have the technical deep and the market breadth to understand the technical tradeoffs operators must make to deploy a successful network. In addition I know how to build consensus even across competitive boundaries for even the most technically sensitive parts of our IPR. From the low-level design of xPON transceivers, ASICs, linecards and optical modules to the system engineering of complex network systems I have a very deep technical understanding of the capabilities of these systems. As the worldwide CTO for the Fixed Networks division I worked with operators and private equity all across the world deploying FTTH systems constantly evaluating how they could monetize their network. As the CTO for Nokia of North America I worked with the largest carriers in our region to deploy not only FTTH but also the next generation radio networks, optical transport systems and high-capacity routing platforms. With this deep technical knowledge and industry relationships I seek to help steer the Fiber Broadband Association in its next chapter of how we can utilize the networks that we are investing billions of dollars in to today.
How many years has your company been a Fiber Broadband Association Member?	23
How many years have you participated in Fiber Broadband Association activities?	15
Please indicate any Fiber Broadband Association Committees or working groups you have participated on including position and years served.	Fiber to the Hill planning committee
Please list any Fiber Broadband Association Contributions (activities supported, assets developed, documents drafted, webinars presented, etc.)	As a representative of Nokia, I worked with the FBA policy and legal teams on identifying the gaps and challenges with the Buy America mandate from the US Department of Commerce and how it was applied to members. We worked with other associations and organizations on drafting a compromise between what the White House was willing to accept and what the industry could absorb. I have participated in various webinars with the FBA as well as other associations highlighting the technology advances in fiber to the home technology as well as deployment use cases Worked with the planning teams for the Fiber on the Hill events that attracted many federal participants in to understand the importance of fiber
How many years have you been in your current position?	3
Describe your current job and functional responsibilities.	Responsible for Nokia’s commitment to bringing the most advanced optical access networking equipment to rural broadband operators through the use of federal and state funding, private equity investments and innovative new go to market strategies of existing operators.
What was your previous position?	CTO of North America
How many years did you hold your previous position for?	3
Do you have experience as a member of a Board of Directors?	Yes
If you answered yes, please provide the entity, the number of years served, and the officer position held.	ATIS – Executive Board Member – 2yrs ONF – Board Member – 2 yrs
The bylaws prohibit convicted felons from serving on the board. Is there any legal impediment that would prevent you from serving on the Board?	No
Is there any legal issue personally of which the Association should be aware?	No
Being a Fiber Broadband Association Board Member requires a considerable time commitment. Please confirm that you have the support of your company if you are elected.	Yes
Please provide a short overview of your experience with telecommunications, fiber optics, and FTTH technologies.	I began my career at Nokia over 25 years ago as an ASIC designer designing the first ATM chipsets for passive optical networks all the way to the latest XGSPON technologies as well as programmable network processors that performed line rate switching, deep packet inspection and advanced traffic management. I worked with many of the commercial chipset companies such as Motorola, Broadcom as well as my competition to ensure the devices that we were creating were interoperable and capable of meeting the requirements of our customers. With this detailed technical knowledge and ability to work with all companies I represented Nokia at both in FSAN (Full Service Access Network), a world-wide industry association of operator companies, as well as at the ITU-T in Geneva for the development of the next generation optical access technologies where we would seek consensus to move the industry forward. As worldwide CTO for the Fixed Networks division as the CTO for the North America region I represented Nokia for government and policy meetings, responsible for detailed technical and market strategies for the product division and the region as was a trusted advisor to not just Nokia but to many of the largest operators in the region. As CTO I worked very closely and help manage the direction of the technical researchers within our Bell Labs organization where many of the enabling technologies that the industry has employed were created and refined at Bell Labs. My teams focused on next generation fiber access technologies as well as creating open systems with open interfaces where data from the network was no longer held captive in the networking products. Recently as the Vice President of the Broadband Partners, I have been responsible for directing a small team to onboard new go to market partners as well as supporting many of the national and regional associations focused on closing the digital divide especially in rural America.
Please describe the goals you would like to accomplish during your term as Fiber Broadband Association Board Member.	The fiber broadband’s mission has been to be the voice of fiber to connect every American with fiber. Because only fiber can close the digital divide and unleash economic development that will raise the quality of life for every single one of us — providing education and job opportunities; eliminating poverty; creating sustainability and enabling innovations. Fiber ensures no one gets left behind. We are posed for incredible growth in fiber networks for the second half of the decade, however my goals for the FBA would be to look at what comes next. 1) Advocacy of how the newly built infrastructure will complement the investments in AI networks to generate economic benefit for operators 2) Focus on secure networks. Advocate for how our fiber networks would form the backbone of our nation’s secure network as quantum becomes both an opportunity and threat 3) Work on expanding the application of fiber networks to prepare for next generation wireless networks This organization has done a fantastic job preparing the overall industry for the future date of ubiquitous fiber connectivity. By advocating and supporting the needs of training of qualified technicians to help build these networks, the FBA and its members rose to the occasion to meet these needs. However, as we look beyond residential connectivity, it is going to be critical that this infrastructure will be utilized for applications well beyond what is currently envisioned. Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs are at the forefront of the leading-edge research in specific technological domains, driving innovation with key academic and technology partners and shaping the future of quantum-safe network solutions. Nokia is a global leader with Quantum-Safe Network solutions and continue to make significant contributions to this space as critical industries are accelerating the digitalization of their operations and in turn are reaping the benefits of business agility and continuity, productivity efficiencies, and sustainability. As organizations see convergence of OT and IT systems and the complexity of distributed network functions will increase the potential attack surface for malicious actors. Over the next five years, optical quantum technology is expected to advance significantly, driven by growing investments in quantum computing, secure communication, and precision metrology where we must ensure that the networks that we are building are secure. In addition to fiber networks, Nokia is a leader in wireless communications. With the adoption of higher performance wireless systems and utilization of more spectrum the importance of the fiber network. As many of these network builds will be concluding by the end of the decade, the 6G network will be constructed where the new spectrum blocks for 6G are expected to be at mid-bands 7 – 20 GHz for urban outdoor cells, enabling higher capacity through extreme MIMO and sub-THz will boost peak data rates exceeding 100 Gbps in localized areas will require fiber capacity. The Fiber Broadband Association must be an active participant in the evolution of the overall network. As the former CTO of Nokia North America I have the relationships to the key technology decision makers of the industry
Have you reviewed the Board of Directors’ Responsibilities document, and do you understand what is required?	Yes
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 have the support of Nokia’s management to carry the mission of FBA forward. Nokia and myself believe that the core mission of FBA continues to facilitate the deployment of residential broadband connectivity to all Americans thereby closing the digital divide. In addition, we must look at the additional investments and development of new network functions while ensuring security of the investments. Nokia’s and my commitment to the FBA leadership and members is that if I am elected that I will have the support of the broader Nokia organization to support the overall mission of connecting the unconnected.