Fiber Broadband Association Awards Keller & Heckman’s Jim Baller and TAK Communications’ Heather Burnett Gold for Contributions to Fiber Broadband Industry

FBA Star and Photon Awards presented at Fiber Connect 2024

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today at Fiber Connect 2024, the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) announced the winners of the Star and Photon Awards. The awards are presented each year at Fiber Connect to celebrate outstanding contributions to the fiber broadband industry. The 2024 Star Award was presented to Jim Baller from Keller & Heckman, LLP, and the 2024 Photon Award was presented to Heather Burnett Gold from TAK Communications.

“FBA recognizes outstanding leadership and contributions in our organization and industry throughout the year. However, the Star and Photon Awards are reserved for individuals and companies whose dedication outshines their peers,” said Jimmy Todd, FBA Board Chair and Nex-Tech CEO & General Manager. “Both Jim and Heather have committed their careers to advancing fiber broadband and each has developed a long resume of accomplishments. We are honored to have them as distinguished contributors within FBA and I congratulate both on their continued efforts to progress fiber broadband connectivity.”

2024 Star Award Winner: Jim Baller, Senior Counsel, Keller & Heckman, LLP

The Star Award recognizes a person, community, or company that has gone above and beyond what is expected in the advancement of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH). Baller has demonstrated a lifetime of steadfast leadership, expert guidance, and unfailing optimism that has been critical to the success and widespread availability of community fiber broadband networks. He has represented clients across the United States in a broad range of communications matters, including battling barriers to community broadband initiatives; providing legal services supporting high-capacity broadband networks; developing public-private broadband partnerships; managing rights-of-way and easements; and negotiating attachments to poles, conduits, towers, and other broadband infrastructure. Baller was the founder and president of the U.S. Broadband Coalition, which helped foster a national consensus on the need for a national broadband strategy and recommended the framework for such a strategy reflected in the Federal Communication Commission’s National Broadband Plan. He was also the co-founder and president of the Coalition for Local Internet Choice.

2024 Photon Award Winner: Heather Burnett Gold, Vice President, External Affairs, TAK Communications

The Photon Award honors an FBA member who, through volunteer contribution, has demonstrated a high level of dedication to the organization and has contributed greatly to the industry. Gold is a fiber broadband industry veteran who has dedicated her career to advancing broadband so that every community can connect to digital opportunities. She is a recognized leader in the areas of broadband deployment, public policy, cost management, strategy development, coalition formation, and creative solutions across multiple diverse teams. Her dedication to the broadband industry has made Gold a reliable resource for the broadband ecosystem. She served the Fiber Broadband Association as the President & CEO for nearly seven years, where she developed and implemented the Fiber Broadband Toolkit. Gold has also helped lead the Public Policy Committee and the Conference Committee for ten years.

The Star and Photon Awards were presented on Monday, July 29, during the Award Luncheon at Fiber Connect 2024. Fiber Connect is the world’s largest fiber broadband conference, where the industry collaborates on best strategies for the investment, deployment, and operation of next-generation gigabit broadband networks. To learn more about the event, visit the conference website here or subscribe to FBA’s Fiber Forward Weekly newsletter here to stay up to date on conference news and more.

About the Fiber Broadband Association

The Fiber Broadband Association is the largest and only trade association that represents the complete fiber ecosystem of service providers, manufacturers, industry experts, and deployment specialists dedicated to the advancement of fiber broadband deployment and the pursuit of a world where communications are limitless, advancing quality of life and digital equity anywhere and everywhere. The Fiber Broadband Association helps providers, communities, and policymakers make informed decisions about how, where, and why to build better fiber broadband networks. Since 2001, these companies, organizations, and members have worked with communities and consumers in mind to build the critical infrastructure that provides the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver. The Fiber Broadband Association is part of the Fibre Council Global Alliance, which is a platform of six global FTTH Councils in North America, LATAM, Europe, MEA, APAC, and South Africa. Learn more at fiberbroadband.org.