MITS GENERAL MANAGER

The commitment of Bonnie Lorang, General Manager of MITS, to rural telecommunications is solidly grounded by her agricultural roots. A third generation Montanan, she grew up on a central Montana ranch initially owned by her grandparents. There she experienced firsthand the importance of rural telecommunications providers to the people and to the communities they serve.

Bonnie’s earliest formal education was at a small one-room country school, mostly attended by relatives. She graduated at the top of her eighth grade class of one, and then daily drove the 20 miles each way to high school in nearby Great Falls. She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Carroll College in Helena, Montana. Her Carroll studies in English, Spanish, Education, and Business included an off-site semester at the Universidad Ibero Americana in Mexico City.

She graduated from Carroll and then began her first professional career as a high school teacher in the hi-line town of Saco, population less than 300. It was there that she gained even a deeper appreciation for remote rural people and communities, and the challenges of living and working in frontier Montana.

Bonnie later returned to Helena and continued work in the public sector. She worked in a variety of governmental agencies including the IRS, MT Dept of Labor, MT Dept of Health and Human Services, and finally found a permanent base at the Montana Public Service Commission.

During her tenure at the PSC, Bonnie served as assistant administrator in Transportation Division. With the 1996 passage of the Federal Telecommunications Act, Bonnie’s career path turned to telecommunications. She was a policy advisor to the Commission and worked within the areas of public information and consumer affairs. She was involved in numerous and varied telecommunications proceedings.

Bonnie served as liaison between Montana's education, library, and healthcare communities and the state's telecom providers in universal service issues. She directed the Montana Universal Access Program that provided funding for advanced services to tribal colleges and communities. She traveled the state providing information on the FCC E-Rate and Rural Healthcare Programs. She was active with the National Assoc. of Regulatory Utility Commissioners serving as staff for the FCC-State 706 Joint Conference on the Deployment of Advanced Telecommunications Services. She represented the PSC as a director on the board of MT Energy Share.

In 2001, Bonnie accepted a position with MITS where her responsibilities were within administration, marketing, public relations, and lobbying. She accepted the position of General Manager in 2007.

MITS is an advocate for its rural cooperative members in state and federal issues. Bonnie is often the eyes, ears and voice for MITS member companies and relays advocacy positions of its member companies. Based in Montana’s capitol city, MITS is active in state telecom and IT issues. Bonnie is a registered lobbyist and often is the initial rural contact for state agencies and state government in telecom matters.

Bonnie served on the 911 Public Safety Advisory Board. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Montana Council of Cooperatives and the Montana Cooperative Development Center. She was appointed to the Negotiated rule-making committees of the Montana Department of Revenue as it considered administrative rules pertaining to telecommunications taxation and 911 collections. Bonnie also serves on the Census 2010 Statewide Complete Count Committee chaired by Lt. Governor John Bollinger.

On a personal note, Bonnie has three grown daughters and three growing grandchildren.

POLICY ADVISOR

Mike has significant experience in planning and analysis for competitive telecommunications ventures, with particular emphasis on financial modeling. He currently manages the day-to-day activities of iConnect Montana, which constructs and operates data centers. These data centers provide neutral collocation and network connectivity services to telecommunications, e-commerce, and Internet-based businesses. He also provides a variety of business management and consulting services, as well as project coordination.