Thank you to our Generous Sponsors!

Premier

Breakfast

Hospitality Hour

Luncheon

 Speakers

Bryan A. Peterson, PHR, SHRM-CP, Vice President, Human Resource Services has been with Associated Employers since 2007 and provides member services in the areas of organizational and staff development and training. Bryan specializes in areas to include: leadership and management development, communication, conflict management, team building, and performance management.

Bryan has a B.S. degree in Business Administration from North Dakota State University, and his Professional in Human Resources (PHR) and SHRM-CP certifications. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on the national level.

Craig Gates is a seasoned telecommunications leader with 41 years of experience, and a career defined by engineering expertise, operational excellence, and unwavering commitment to the cooperative principles. His professional journey began with 5 years as a contractor, 15 years with GTE and 5 years with Verizon after the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. Craig advanced from hands-on construction and installation roles into PBX support, TDM circuit maintenance, sales support and sales engineering, product management, and inter-central office network operations. Ultimately held responsibility for E911 and SS7 across the 14-state area of Verizon West serving in the National Engineering Team as a Group Manager, solidifying his reputation for technical depth and reliable network stewardship. 

Craig’s leadership within the cooperative telecom sector spans more than two decades. As Director of Engineering and later Chief Operating Officer at PMT located in Idaho, he helped guide major network upgrades, system modernization efforts, and cultural alignment with cooperative values. His transition to CEO roles strengthened that focus: with five years at DeKalb Telephone Cooperative (DTC) and ten years leading Triangle Telephone Cooperative and Hill County Electric Cooperative. Under his leadership, Triangle delivered FTTH across roughly 24,000 square miles and 39 exchanges in Montana, while also managing Hill County Electric with more than 3,000 miles of distribution infrastructure across five counties. Craig has sat on and continues to sit on numerous boards across several different entities. 

Across all organizations, Craig emphasizes member-focused governance, prudent stewardship of cooperative assets, and long-term network reliability—operating with transparency, equality, education, and community commitment consistent with the cooperative principles. He has fostered teams grounded in accountability, innovation, and service, ensuring that cooperative members—not shareholders—remained at the center of every strategic decision. 

Since 2020, Craig has also served as CEO of Triangle Investments LLC, a private equity investment company he helped establish. In this role, he brings cooperative-minded leadership to the investment space, applying decades of engineering and operational experience to sustainable, member-benefiting growth initiatives.

John Hines has served as Vice President of gas and electricity supply since 2011. NorthWestern provides electricity and natural gas service to over 750,000 customers in Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska.

In this position, Mr. Hines is responsible for natural gas and electricity supply planning, acquisition, an electric trading floor, generation development and operation, and regulatory supply filings. In 2012, Mr. Hines began overseeing the corporate environmental and lands functions and in 2019 he also began overseeing the Montana Government Affairs function.

Mr. Hines joined NorthWestern Energy in 2005 as Director of Energy Supply Planning and was responsible for leading the company’s energy supply planning and long-term procurement activities. In 2008, he served as Chief Energy Supply Officer with direct oversight of natural gas and electricity service. Prior to joining NorthWestern, Hines was appointed to serve as one of Montana’s two representatives to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council from 2002 through 2004.

Hines is a native of Bozeman, Montana, and received his B.A and M.A. in Economics from the University of Montana. He and his wife Siobhan have two children and live in Helena.

Chad Holzer has specialized in telecommunications for over a decade. He focuses on separations and regulatory work and manages consulting and cost study engagements. His clients are primarily rural incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs, which are cost companies), rural cooperatives and corporations (which are cost pooling), rate-of-return rural ILECs, and midsize price-cap companies. Services to his clients include cost study preparations and reviews; Universal Service Fund settlement studies; carrier access billing system and revenue assurance reviews; and development of continuing property records (CPRs).

Bryce Daniel is the General Manager of LincTel Communications, where he leads the company’s efforts to expand and modernize broadband infrastructure across rural Montana. Bryce began his telecommunications career in 2008 as a combination technician before serving as Network Manager for a decade. In 2021, he was appointed General Manager, overseeing operations, strategic planning, and fiber network development.

He earned his MBA in 2024 and later completed a Master of Science in Business Analytics with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and coding, combining technical expertise with data-driven leadership to guide LincTel’s continued growth and innovation.

Ben Calvert is the Chief Technology Officer at Range, where he leads innovation in delivering high-speed connectivity across rural Montana and Wyoming. With more than 27 years in the telecommunications industry, his career spans IT, voice switching, fiber-to-the-home network engineering, software development, and cybersecurity. He’s driven by a passion for learning about new technology, building reliable networks that close the digital divide, and empowering communities on the edge of the frontier. 

Ben lives with his wife, Claudene, and their four dogs in Forsyth, Montana, where they enjoy camping, traveling, and date-night Fridays. They have two grown daughters and four grandchildren who keep life lively and full of stories. When he’s not designing broadband networks at Range, Ben dives into podcasts on technology trends, explores cybersecurity, reads, games, and sharpens his Linux and Python skills. 

Outside of work, he’s also the creative mind behind the tongue-in-cheek, The Abandoned Husband Log—a serialized saga (created with the help of AI) in which his four dogs play the roles of superheroes, villains, and courtroom personalities in the ever-chaotic city of Sofa City. Whether he’s chronicling canine capers or debating his next Apple device purchase, Ben’s curiosity and sense of humor keep him fully engaged in both tech and storytelling.

Dan Bloch, who has over 25 years experience in the computing industry, has been involved in a number of industry projects across North American and global markets.  Prior to his current role, Mr. Bloch held several vice president roles at Calix and prior to that at Oracle for 9 years and held various positions with Microsoft Corporation over a decade and half, specializing in leading sales organizations across the country with an industry perspective. In his current role Dan has global responsibility for Calix’s premises solutions including the AI Agentic Platform.

Mr. Bloch received a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, Master of Business Administration Degree and a Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology. He serves as a Board Advisor for different companies, provides mental health services in the community and is active in several charities including the Canadian Breast Cancer Society, Canadian Arthritis Society, Canadian Red Cross, MADD and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

Barry Walton boasts an impressive 48-year career in the telecommunications industry and currently holds the position of Senior Broadband Solutions Advisor at Corning Optical Communications. Barry joined Corning eight years ago, following a successful consulting career. Before that, he spent 37 years at a Canadian telecom company, where he led the deployment of Canada’s first large-scale Fiber to the Home (FTTH) network. He was instrumental in developing the strategy and implementation plan that brought FTTH to over 130 communities, passing 1 million homes.

Barry’s expertise encompasses business case creation, operations planning, large-scale network design, cost reduction, and deployment strategies for successful access network builds. Known for his impartial technical approach, Barry fosters an environment that values diverse perspectives. In his current role, he is dedicated to developing and implementing innovative solutions aimed at reducing labor for deploying fiber to the home in rural communities.

Barry has also served a term on the board of directors for the North American Fiber to the Home Council and is an active member of the Fiber Broadband Association's technology committee. He has delivered numerous presentations on various FTTH topics at national and regional conferences. Barry is highly respected by his peers for his extensive real-world experience and expertise in deploying FTTH networks.

He is also known on LinkedIn as one of the #BroadbandGuys.

Kristy Szabo, Director of Consulting: With nearly 30 years of experience in business finance, Kristy Szabo is an expert on valuations for ILEC and CLEC operations, wireless operations, and CATV systems. She has developed many historical financial analysis, financial forecasting, budgets, and feasibility studies. Kristy has been involved in securing grant funds for broadband networks in numerous state and federal grant programs, including RUS Broadband, Traditional Loan, USDA ReConnect, Community Connect Grant, CAF II, and RDOF, in addition to assisting clients obtain financing through CoBank and NCSC. Kristy has been an active bidder and has worked directly with the FCC’s auction system during several spectrum auctions. Kristy continues to work with the FCC on the wireless side by filing regulatory filings and license applications. Prior to joining VPS, Kristy spent 10 years in banking and financing; in-depth experience that brings a unique set of skills to the wide array of financial consulting projects.

Prior to his retirement in December of 2024, Joe Whittinghill was a Corporate Vice President and the Chief Talent and Learning Officer for Microsoft, Corporation responsible for people strategy, culture, organization development, talent management, and learning. Joe joined Microsoft in 1999 and held multiple global leadership positions in both Finance and Human Resources including serving as the Managing Director of the Venture Integration Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Prior to joining Microsoft, he was a senior consultant, managing director for Rayner & Associates, Inc., and the associate executive director of the University of Montana Foundation. Joe currently serves on the boards of D.A. Davidson, Gaia Ag PBC, Grizzly Riders International, and the Montana Ambassadors. He is the past chairman of the University of Montana Foundation and Alumni Association. He is a guest instructor for the University of Montana, Pepperdine University, and the University of Washington, and a regular industry speaker on strategy, culture, and leadership. Joe resides in Seattle, Washington.