Eric Bathras

Associate Vice President, Connected Communities & Broadband Leader

AECOM

Eric has been in the broadband industry for just over 29 years covering public and private service provider and broadband networks that include long haul, middle mile and last mile design and construction. He was recently networkMaryland™’s Director of Network Operations where he was responsible for the successful operation of a 24x7x365 wide area network, managed LAN, managed WLAN and Maryland Department of Information Technology’s (DoIT) critical data center infrastructure. Eric also led one of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) largest and most successful Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants nationwide. It was comprised of designing and building +1000 fiber route miles and connecting +1000 community anchor institutions (CAIs), which spanned all twenty-four of Maryland’s counties. His technical expertise includes stakeholder consultation, program and project management, training staff in best practices, master planning and design and implementation of complex public and private sector broadband and connected community projects and programs. He specializes in leading cross-functional teams to bring about sound planning, design and project delivery across a wide range of broadband and connected community initiatives. As broadband networks have influenced the way public and private sector organizations deliver services, applications and data to devices, customers and citizens, Eric focuses on applying a collaborative master plan and design to implement proactive solutions that can achieve operational excellence and a lasting impact to all users of a broadband network.