Deb Socia

Keynote: "Is your community prepared for tomorrow? For today?"

To foster viable communities, we must embrace technological innovations and the new opportunities they enable. As we all know, community prosperity is closely tied to residents' quality of life. Telehealth applications, online education, work-from-home options, small business sales and marketing opportunities, communication, and much more are influenced by our willingness to take risks, explore new paths, and prioritize the needs of our neighbors. This keynote will present data and stories of innovation and community prosperity from around the country.

 

 

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Deb Socia recently retired as the President and CEO of The Enterprise Center, a nonprofit that nurtures innovation in Chattanooga, working to connect people to resources and build an inclusive community. She is now a leadership development consultant and volunteers on several boards and advisory committees.

Previously, Deb was the founding Executive Director of Next Century Cities, a nonprofit that supports community leaders as they seek to ensure that all have access to fast, affordable, and reliable Internet. Before that role, Deb was the founding Executive Director of the Tech Goes Home program in Boston, whose mission is to ensure digital equity.

Deb’s early career included 32 years as an educator and administrator.  She was the founding principal of the award-winning Lilla G. Frederick Middle School, a Boston Public School where she led the one-to-one laptop initiative. Deb has been the recipient of many awards for her work, including the NATOA Community Broadband Hero, the Pathfinder Award from MassCUE, the CRSTE Leadership and Vision Award, a Google Digital Inclusion Award, Motherboard Human of the Year, an NTENny Award, the Charles Benton Digital Equity Award, the Red Cross Call to Action Award, and the ChaTech CEO of the Year Award.