After considering more than 40 candidates from across the nation, the Oklahoma Broadband Governing Board voted unanimously to hire former Oklahoma State Representative Mike Sanders as executive director of the Oklahoma Broadband Office.
Sanders will be chief administrator for the award of $382 million that the state received through the federal American Rescue Plan Act for broadband deployments. The state had requested $4 billion in funding for the program that is still pending U.S. Treasury approval.
“I’m honored to be asked to serve in such an important role to benefit the state of Oklahoma,” Sanders said. “This effort builds on previous work to connect the entire state with the economy of the 21st Century. The benefit to families, farms, businesses, and communities is this generation’s equivalent to the impact of rural electrification of the 1930s and the interstate system of the 1950s.”
Governor Kevin Stitt praised the board’s decision to hire Sanders. “Mike’s extensive work at the State House and his time serving in the George W. Bush Administration give him the unique ability to understand this process and how to best navigate the complicated D.C. bureaucracy to make sure these federal dollars are distributed fairly and align with our vision to deliver high-speed internet access to 95 percent of the state by 2028,” Stitt said.
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