MCNC's Community Connect Podcast

Tracy Doaks, Tommy Jacobson, and the rest of MCNC's Senior Leadership Team reflect on the past year of growth for MCNC and look ahead to the future of broadband in North Carolina.

On this epsiode, MCNC President & CEO Tracy Doaks is joined by two experts working to bring digital equity and inclusion to Winston Salem and surrounding Forsyth County: Lakisha Jordan, executive director of WinstonNet, and Layla Garms, the Equity in Education program officer at The Winston-Salem Foundation. Listen as Tracy, Lakisha, and Layla provide insight into the socio-economic barriers to internet access in Forsyth County, discuss the work being done to bridge the digital divide there, and explain how funding and support for digital equity programs give voices to communities around the state and the nation.

In this episode, MCNC President and CEO Tracy Doaks sits down with members of the MCNC Vital Cyber and K12 teams to examine cybersecurity in education, why it has become a hot target for criminals, and how institutions and staff can maximize resources to mitigate the growing number of attacks and threats increasing almost daily.

On the third episode of MCNC’s Community Connect Podcast, our host Tracy Doaks is joined by experts in the area of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): Dr. Marc Hoit, Vice Chancellor for IT and Chief Information Officer at NC State University, and Stephanie Jane Edwards, Senior GIS Analyst and Digital Inclusion Liaison at MCNC. Listen as they discuss a range of topics, first illustrating what DEI means and its economic and social ramifications, then detailing approaches organizations like MCNC are taking to address DEI, including GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping, to break down barriers in high-speed Internet access. Finally, the experts discuss how MCNC is planning for North Carolina’s long-term growth with these initiatives and how national funding is helping the cause as well.

The second episode of MCNC’s Community Connect Podcast, our host Tracy Doaks, MCNC’s President and CEO, is joined by two experts in the Healthcare Connect Fund Discounts program and providing broadband connectivity to rural healthcare locations: Tracy Olson, executive director of the North Carolina Telehealth Network Association (NCTNA), and John Graham, president of the NCTNA board of directors. Listen as they discuss a host of topics starting with how the pandemic has forever changed healthcare by exposing inequities and connectivity gaps followed by how NCTNA and MCNC’s partnership addresses the challenges facing North Carolina head-on.

On this premiere episode of MCNC’s Community Connect Podcast, our host Tracy Doaks, MCNC’s President and CEO, is joined by two experts in the fields of cybersecurity: Chris Beal, MCNC Vice President of Security Initiatives & Chief Information Security Officer, and Douglas Holland, Senior Solutions Engineer for Akamai. Listen as they discuss a host of topics starting with world events – particularly those in Russia and Ukraine – as they relate to the growing focus on cyber security and threats to such around the globe and right here in North Carolina.