Stephen V. Smith

Background

About Stephen V. Smith

Rural America is experiencing a transformation, and I’m blessed to have spent almost three decades supporting cooperatives and other providers doing the hard work of connecting towns, counties, and countrysides with broadband technology. I’ve see the lives they’ve changed, the communities they’ve improved, the businesses they’ve empowered. I’ve also lived that story personally, growing a small business and raising a family with the help of a telecom provider determined to construct a world-class network for our rural Appalachian community. In mid-2020, our marketing and publishing company (WordSouth) became part of the Pioneer Utility Resources family. We had grown from a literal Mom-and-Pop operation to one employing 30 creative and mission-focused individuals distributed across six states. Our clients stretched from Texas to South Carolina, and from Florida to Minnesota. It was time to find a strategic partner who could help us broaden our impact. We found that partner in Pioneer. Today I’m proud to not only continue my work of three decades, but also to build upon Pioneer’s legacy of almost 70 years of serving community owned electric providers as a communications cooperative. Just as electrification transformed rural America decades ago, we are participating in a similar transformation today through broadband technology.