Leadership Transition for Illinois Broadband Lab Collaborators

Devon Braunstein is taking the helm as Deputy Director of the Illinois Office of Broadband at the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and Matt Schmit is poised to join the Illinois Broadband Lab at the University of Illinois System as Senior Director for Broadband. Both organizations will remain aligned in support of Illinois’ broadband deployment and digital equity efforts. Braunstein joined the IOB in December 2023 following a successful tenure as the City of Chicago’s Digital Equity Director building community-driven collaborations, overseeing the Chicago Connected initiative, and publishing the City’s first- ever digital equity plan. Schmit joined the IOB in September 2019, standing up the office to create and administer grant programming following the State’s $420 million investment in broadband expansion through the 2019 Rebuild Illinois Capital Plan—which, at the time, represented the country’s largest state matching grant program ever.