Profiles
For James Baller, emphasizing the relationship between broadband and economic development has always been a labor of love.
By: Brad Randall, Broadband Communities
This year James Baller, a longtime friend of the Broadband Communities Summit, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Broadband Communities Awards.
The award, one of many now on Baller’s shelf, honors his decades of dedication to the advancement of connectivity in communities.
While Baller, known to most as Jim, retired as a telecommunications partner from Keller & Heckman last year, his distinguished legacy of advocacy has left a lasting mark, including on the Broadband Communities Summit itself.
Baller says he has been involved with the Summit since the mid 2000’s.
Since then, he’s remained consistent, emphasizing the relationship between broadband and economic development over the past two decades to professionals from around the country.
A labor of love
For Baller, it has always been a labor of love. He’s passionate about what he does.
Along with being recognized at the Broadband Communities Awards this year, Baller also collected another lifetime achievement honor from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance last year.
James Baller, Courtesy photo
Additionally, he earned the Star Award from the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) in 2024 and the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities Vanguard Award this year.
According to the FBA, Baller exhibited “a lifetime of steadfast leadership, expert guidance, and unfailing optimism,” leading to his selection for the award.
At the time, the FBA said Baller’s contributions have been “critical to the success and widespread availability of community fiber broadband networks.”
Speaking to Broadband Communities late this summer, Baller said he’s thankful that he has left an impact on the world of broadband.
“I feel very, very fortunate that I’ve been able to be involved in the conversation on the policy level,” Baller said.
He said he’s also grateful that he has been involved in so many successful projects.
Baller says he hangs his hat on projects “that have actually worked, have done good, and have influenced others.”
A uniting message
One of the main drivers for Baller over his career has been pushing for economic development. Baller said economic development has remained one of the few missions that continues to unite people of all political persuasions.
Yet, Baller says what is viewed today as important in broadband projects has evolved.
“These other areas of interest have come to be recognized as also being intimately related to access to affordable, robust broadband,” Baller said.
He referenced focuses like education, health care, public safety, transportation, environmental protection, and energy as key sectors that intersect with broadband.
“I don’t think that the emphasis on economic development has been lost,” Baller said. “It’s been shared, so to speak, with other areas of interest.”
Broadband’s next big challenge, Baller said, seems much like an old one. He said there will continue to be a pressing need to address access gaps in communities left behind as the nation leaps into the digital era.
“It would not surprise me if communities continued to step forward on their own,” Baller said.
He said many communities will not settle for inadequate broadband and will demand to be on the leading edge.
Baller said a similar sentiment rang through the country during the days of electrification.
“History seems to be constantly repeating,” he said.