24
Terry Brigman
Co-Chair
City of Lakeland
Vision
All of Polk County will have the fastest, most
affordable and most accessible high-speed
internet services possible by 2030.
Eric Labbe
Co-Chair
City of Winter Haven
Tina Barrios, Ph.D.
Polk County Public
Schools
Naomi Boyer, Ph.D.
Polk State College
TOP: Panelists L to R: Dr. Tina
Barrios, CIO, Polk County Public
Schools; Terry Brigman, CIO,
City of Lakeland, Don Selvage,
Commissioner, City of Lakeland;
Hiep Nguyen, CIO, City of Winter
Haven; Eric Labbe Planning
Manager, City of Winter Haven.
On February 28, 2018, the
Smart Communities Team
working with the Leadership
Polk Alumni Association
presented Addressing the
Digital Divide. Hosted by
Polk State College, Winter
Haven Campus, the Lunch n’
Learn event was attended by
Alumni and members of the
community.
BOTTOM: Mr. Bartolomeo
with Florida Polytechnic
University students who
working with the Winter
Haven Economic Development
Council conducted a Smart
Communities assessment of the
City of Winter Haven.
William DeWitt
Polk State College
Ercan Elibol
Florida Polytechnic
University
Doug Lewis
Polk County BoCC
Hiep Nguyen
City of Winter Haven
Nick Nicholas
DSM
David Robinson
DSM
Brian Ross
City of Haines City
Don Selvage
SHR Human
Resources, LLC
Marybeth Soderstrom
Central Florida
Regional Planning
Council
Chad Tagtow
Citizens Bank & Trust
William Twyford
City of Winter Haven
Lynn Wilson
Polk County School
Board
Ed Wolf
Polk County BoCC
Tina Barrios, Ph.D. // Assistant Superintendent, Information Systems & Technology Division,
Polk County Public Schools
The Smart Communities Team has provided great value to Polk County Public Schools.
Developing a shared vision for not only connecting communities but emphasizing the
importance of connectivity for our schools has been a driving force for the past 3 years. Over
the past 16 months in collaboration with the City of Lakeland, the school district has been
able to bring high speed network access to 49 sites in the Lakeland area and show an annual
savings of $90,000. This increased bandwidth also enabled the district to install a new phone
system in each of these sites providing a phone in every classroom."