A Techie and a Trekkie: Meet Washington’s New Broadband Director

When Aaron Wheeler, Washington state broadband office director joined the office, he inherited a process and plans put in place by retiring broadband director Mark Vasconi, and he’s not about to slow the state’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) process down. While some states are more deliberate and trying to slow down the process of Volume 2 approval to delay the 365-day “shot clock” kicking in, Wheeler explains that in Washington, they’re “going to be at full speed all 2024 so we can finish as much of the process as possible and focus on shovels in the ground next year.”  With an upbeat and positive nature, he recognizes that both the NTIA offices as well as individual state broadband offices are faced with “flying a plane while we build it.” A Washington native and a self-professed ‘trekkie,” Wheeler embraces this moment in time to deliver digital equity and connectivity to his state’s myriad different cultures. He quotes the creator of Star Trek, Gene Rodenberry as an inspiration to him for pointing out that, “We must strive to embrace our differences, for it is in our diversity that we find strength.”