Joe Kochan serves as the CEO of US Ignite, responsible for leading the organization in its mission to accelerate the smart community movement as a high-tech, high-impact nonprofit. He is also Principal Investigator and Project Director for the Platforms for Advanced Wireless Research (PAWR) Project Office (PPO), a $100 million program funded by the National Science Foundation and a consortium of more than 30 wireless companies and associations. US Ignite co-leads the PAWR PPO with Northeastern University.
Prior to US Ignite, Joe worked as part of the Department of Commerce’s BTOP grant program. Prior to that role, he was a founder and Vice President–Operations of DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a Virginia-based startup backed by over $40M in venture funding dedicated to bringing broadband services to small, underserved markets nationwide using broadband wireless technology. Previously, he was with Verizon, with responsibility for strategic planning and strategic project management, specifically focusing on the military housing market and the implementation of the first Verizon FiOS networks at military bases across the country.
Joe received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from Princeton University and lives in Washington, DC.