I would like to introduce Elevation Wireless as a new Associate Member to
WISPA. This membership status has been granted with the understanding that
Chip will upgrade to Vendor Membership after his new business takes hold.
Chip has volunteered to be a member of the Grants Committee and is currently
putting together a Grant Education Program. WISPA welcomes Chip and wishes
his new consulting venture is successful and his experience is used to
assist our many members.
Respectfully,
Rick Harnish
Chip Gaskins is one of the most passionate and knowledgeable people with
respect to wireless broadband and what it means to underserved communities.
Growing up in rural eastern North Carolina he understands first-hand the
importance that internet access provides to underserved communities. He
knows local WISPs are key to providing this access and is dedicated to
bridging the gap between the recent federal stimulus funds and WISPs that
are interested in expansion. Chip is currently the president of Elevation
Wireless and has taken a recent focus on working with the NTIA and RUS
programs to administer the rural broadband stimulus grants. Specifically he
works on behalf of WISPs to prepare the proper needs assessment, market
surveys, mapping, and financial plans. He then uses that information to
prepare the grant applications and represents them through the NTIA and RUS
grant approval process.
Chip spent the early part of his career at hardware providers like Nortel
and Intel, however most of his career has been focused on rolling out
broadband to consumers. Most recently at DigitalBridge Communications
(rural WiMAX ISP) where he led Corporate Development and spent most of his
time buying 2.5GHz spectrum and WISPs to build out rural WiMAX networks in
Montana, Wyoming, Indiana, Idaho, Virginia, and South Dakota. At
DigitalBridge, Chip also participated in several USDA (RUS) application
processes and came to understand the importance of Washington DC based
representation and the acute attention to detail needed for application
approval.
Before DigitalBridge Chip did broadband partnership deals at AOL. He
negotiated deals with AT&T, Bellsouth, Charter, and Clearwire and quickly
came to understand the value of owning the "last mile". Chip devised and
negotiated the first major wireless broadband deal between AOL and
Clearwire. Earlier, he worked for Earthlink and really understood what
federal regulation meant given that he had to both work with, and compete
against, the ILECs leasing their DSL lines and then trying to resell them
profitably.
Chip has a Masters degree in engineering North Carolina State University and
an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chip has spoken at numerous conferences and events. Most recently at:
* 2009 4G Conference in Miami
* 2008 NIA Spectrum Conference in Newport Beach on 2.5 GHz valuations
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