NGN Welcomes David Little

NGN is excited to announce David Little as Vice President of Network Operations

David brings specialization in utility broadband to benefit NGN and its members.

David Little, Vice President of Network Operations

David will work to expand NGN’s footprint by strategically targeting growth opportunities within the municipal, investor and customer owned utility sector.  

“I believe broadband is essential to a long-term plan for sustainable economic growth in North Georgia,” said Little, “with NGN’s state of the art network, North Georgia is positioned to attract high technology industry and be Georgia’s new hub for innovation.” 

David has been a strong proponent of municipal broadband and has testified and lobbied against Georgia’s SB313 and HB282, legislation that would restrict or prevent municipals from building or expanding broadband networks.  He believes it is critical that municipal and customer owned networks be allowed to expand without restriction, to bring competition to the marketplace and serve local customers through a local voice.

“We are honored to have David join our team,” says Paul Belk, NGN President and CEO, “his experience with everything from the ‘ditch to the boardroom’ within municipal broadband enhances the leadership we can bring to electric cooperatives and municipal utilities across the state as we expand the NGN footprint and better meet the demand for first-class rural broadband in Georgia.”

Background

David began his career in 2003, with four years in outside plant construction, building and splicing Monroe’s fiber optic network and assisting in construction and maintenance of the electric distribution system.

In 2007, he began studying Cisco switching and routing and laid out a plan to convert Monroe’s passive, unmanaged fiber network to an active Carrier Metro-Ethernet network.  By the end of 2009, David had installed a new Cisco network and converted all of Monroe’s optical customers to the new platform.  During the same time, he completed the installation of an IP distribution network for all high definition channels Monroe added to their cable television lineup.

From 2010 to 2011, he continued to grow Monroe’s fiber business by launching Voice over IP (VoIP) on the Monroe network.  He led Monroe in a network expansion to the southeast’s premier data center, Telx, at 56 Marietta Street in Atlanta, Georgia.  He established Monroe as an autonomous system and filed for Monroe’s first IP allocation from the American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN).

In 2012, David was named Assistant Director of Electric & Telecommunications.  He continued as Monroe’s principal network engineer and managed the daily operations of both departments. In addition, David assisted in preparing Monroe’s annual budget and worked closely with the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG Power) to manage Monroe’s power cost and secure a long-term power supply for its citizens through the purchase of an interest in generating capacity from Plant Vogtle’s new nuclear units 3 & 4.

The City of Monroe fiber network was turned into a valuable asset to its citizens, a powerful economic development tool, and a true gateway to the world, thanks to the work of David Little.  The state-of-the-art network and enhanced service offerings were instrumental in the decision of Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas, Inc. to spend $80M and create 250 jobs in Walton County.

Education & Family

David holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, and is a graduate of the Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.  David is also a recipient of the prestigious Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

David relocated to North Georgia with his wife, Rachael.  In his spare time, David enjoys playing golf, the outdoors and audio and video production.