Erik Garr

Erik Garr is a partner at Guidehouse, the market leading broadband consultant for State and Local governments. Guidehouse consults to more than 40 states, and actively supports more than 10 state and local governments broadband offices, giving Guidehouse a broad understanding of the opportunities and complexities of turning federal funding into reliable internet access for citizens in those jurisdictions.

Prior to joining Guidehouse, Erik served as the President of Fidium Fiber and as a General Manager of Google Fiber where he lead the deployment and operation of over 2 million homes of new fiber optic infrastructure for two of the most loved and highest rated fiber internet products in the industry. Erik and his teams earned industry leading Net Promoter Scores in both cases, resetting the bar for customer service.

In Erik’s fiber career, he has negotiated and operated more than 20 innovative public private partnerships to bring broadband to rural areas. He has direct experience with Capital Projects grants, RDOF subsidies, Universal Service Funds, CARES Act funding, NTIA BTOP, NTIA BEAD, NTIA BIP, open access arrangements, and various state and local broadband bonding programs.

In 2009, Erik stepped away from his business career to lead the development of the National Broadband Plan at the Federal Communications Commission, delivering the plan to the US Congress in 2010. This work remains relevant today, shaping much of the debate the country continues to have on how best to bring more broadband to more Americans. This experience gives him a unique perspective as a former policy maker trying to incent more network deployment, in additio

Erik has a bachelor’s degree with high honors in Political Science from the University of Michigan, and a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Chicago and was the Accenture Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Duke University, where he taught a highly rated course on broadband policy.