Jean Rice is a Senior Broadband Program Specialist for the National Telecommunication and Information Administration (NTIA) BroadbandUSA program.

Rice focuses on the development of new broadband initiatives for local, state and tribal governments as well as planning and implementation efforts for Smart Cities projects.

Prior to joining BroadbandUSA, she managed tribal, state and rural infrastructure projects for the Broadband Technologies Opportunities Program (BTOP) and lead efforts on key issues impacting broadband deployment, open access, deployment in rural and tribal areas and sustainability.

Rice is a member of the Federal Smart Grid Task Force and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Program (NTRID) Smart Cities and Communities Task Force. With a passion for telecommunications and broadband, Rice has worked with many stakeholders to expand broadband access and has been a primary author of several broadband-related publications.

Prior to joining NTIA, Ms. Rice was the CEO of a telecommunications consulting firm where she lead efforts for cities and states around the country to develop telecommunications regulations and policy and worked on broadband planning and deployment projects.

She also was a Senior municipal consultant for the New York State Commission on Cable Television and served as a new technologies officer for NTIA.

She received both her Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Communications from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where she focused on telecommunications.

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