Maura Nespoli

Bessie Williams is the Chief Procurement Officer of Prysmian North America. Bessie holds an MBA from the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business. Bessie has 19 years of experience in the global supply chain and procurement sectors ranging from both raw and non-raw material procurement with an extensive background in metals. Bessie joined Prysmian in November 2023. As CPO for Prysmian North America, she leads procurement activities, provides strategic thought leadership, influence and hands-on engagement to lead strategic sourcing and supply management strategies. Bessie will participate in the “Supply Chain – Impact and Effects of the Future Energy Grid” panel discussion at the 2024 IWCS Cable & Connectivity Industry Forum.

Ben Segura currently leads the Outage Task Force at GFiber. GFiber is an Alphabet company that brings Google Fiber and Google Fiber Webpass internet services to homes and businesses across the United States. Ben’s roles at GFiber have spanned multiple engineering and technical program disciplines including lead positions in outside plant, architecture, innovation, and most recently he’s held supporting roles in strategic partnerships and customer operations. Before joining Google Fiber in 2011, Ben spent 10 years as an engineer at Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) where he maintained critical electric power communication systems, designed and built both aerial and underground fiber transport and metro-ethernet network, and built and managed the Voice Video and Data headend for the municipally owned LUS Fiber, a citywide Fiber to the Home network. In early 2018, Ben took a brief hiatus from GFiber to launch a wireless technology start-up, and to advise the Connectivity Fund as an operating partner, and rejoined GFiber 2019. Ben has a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, is a Professional Engineer, and holds 10+ patents for various optical and fiber deployment related technologies.

Stuart Freiman joined the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in June 2022 as the fed-eral program officer (FPO) for the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In this role, Stuart coordinates partnerships and outreach with each state and their local governments, community groups, and other entities with a vested interest on NTIA’s high-speed internet grant programs and policy issues. Stuart works directly with Massachusetts and Rhode Is-land’s broadband offices and the state-level county and municipal associations to ensure comprehensive engagement from all stakeholders in the state on the State’s high-speed internet planning and funding process. Prior to joining the NTIA, Stuart spent 18 years working for the State of Rhode Island, 14 of which managing broadband projects including the NTIA-funded State Broadband Initiative and FirstNet Public Safety Broadband programs. His ex-tensive career also includes 20 years in the high-tech industry in both New England and Silicon Valley. Stuart holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Business Administration degree from New Hampshire College.