Brian Rathbone spent much of his 35-year technology career in the private sector building networks and software platforms for mid-sized companies, manufacturers, dot coms, and NASCAR teams. Rathbone bought a home in Rutherford County, NC in 2002 believing it had multiple types of internet access but learned afterward that none were actually available. In 2010, while helping a small wireless ISP (WISP) secure an Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) grant for fixed-wireless broadband in Rutherford County, NC, Brian was hired by the non-profit e-NC Authority as Technical Assistance Director for 31 counties in Western, North Carolina. He continued this work at the statewide level as Senior Telecommunications Specialist for the North Carolina Department of Commerce Broadband Division (NC Broadband). Rathbone was a driving force behind the development of the North Carolina open-source broadband map and created the original prototype. After returning to the private sector, Brian and his colleagues were asked to create a Broadband Planning Primer and Toolkit for ARC. A new company, Broadband Catalysts, grew out of this effort, which participated in the Cool and Connected program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service, EPA's Office of Sustainable Communities, and the Appalachian Regional Commission. In the years since, Broadband Catalysts has worked with non-profits, foundations, NGOs, CDFIs, and ISPs to foster the expansion of broadband infrastructure, device access, and digital skills across the United States and Canada. While Brian doesn’t often mention it in his broadband work, he is a serial digital entrepreneur, inventor, and international bestselling self-published author of a 12-book epic fantasy series. He couldn’t have done any of these things out of his log cabin in the Blueridge Mountains without the Internet and broadband.