Multi-year, $19 million investment delivers high-speed internet to underserved and overlooked communities in rural North Carolina

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — MCNC, the technology non-profit that builds, owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), today announced the completion of its HERO (High Speed Economies for Rural Opportunity) Project.

The making of HERO

On May 16, 2022, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo (2021-2025) was in Durham to launch Internet for All, a federal bipartisan investment of $45 billion to provide affordable, reliable, high-speed internet for everyone in America by the end of the decade. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) was tasked to administer and implement the new initiative. Full Story.
 MCNC applied for funding in September 2022 to extend its network by 209 fiber miles via two strategic routes. Those routes included Albemarle to Winston-Salem (74 miles) in central North Carolina, and between Sanford via Fayetteville to Jacksonville (135 miles) in southeastern North Carolina. More than 235 grant applications were submitted nationwide totaling more than $5.5 billion. MCNC was the only Research and Education Network (REN) in the country to receive individual funding. Visit NTIA Project Page.

On June 16, 2023, MCNC received $11,186,162.82 million from the NTIA for the project. The Golden LEAF Foundation awarded $2,672,234 to be used as matching funds towards the southeastern portion of the project. MCNC provided the rest ($5,101,201). Read Original Announcement.
 From August 2023 to June 2024, MCNC released a series of stories highlighting various elements of the project – exploring everything from health care and public safety to education, entrepreneurship, and economic development. The series included several episodes on the MCNC Community Connect Podcast.
 On Sept. 5, 2024, MCNC held a groundbreaking ceremony at Central Carolina Community College (CCCC) to officially start the construction phase of the project. Access Video, Photos and Information.
 Now, as of June 2026 with the completion of HERO, the total operation of MCNC’s network is 4,745 miles. MCNC continues to provide technology services in all 100 counties of North Carolina. View Network Map.

North Carolina needed HERO

The HERO Project supports important improvements to broadband access and affordability in central and southeastern North Carolina, positively impacting over 350,000 housing units and 696 community anchor institutions, which will bring a modern “infrastructure of opportunity” to these rural and economically-challenged areas. The 11 total counties benefiting from this project previously saw more than 16,000 unserved and 12,000 underserved housing units, including many substantially unserved local communities.

Along with MCNC’s own investments and continued support from the Golden LEAF Foundation, the HERO project has been $19 million total infusion towards high-speed internet and technology services for the state. This expansion also supported many construction and engineering jobs throughout the project and now enhances the affordability strategies of last-mile commercial providers in these communities moving forward.

“Today marks a significant milestone for making high-speed internet affordable and available in North Carolina,” said MCNC President and CEO Tracy Doaks. “The continued support from the NTIA and the Golden LEAF Foundation along with our own stakeholders makes this particular project a very special one for MCNC and a game changer for economic growth and success in our local communities.”

“The true impact of the HERO Project lies in the spaces between our towns,” added Tommy Jacobson, MCNC Vice President and Chief Operations Officer. “While municipalities often have options, it’s the rural areas between them that face the greatest need for middle-mile infrastructure. By strengthening this foundation, we continue to ensure every community in North Carolina has the essential resources to thrive, learn, and succeed.”

“High-speed internet is critical for education, health care access, and economic growth,” said Nate Denny, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Information Technology and State CIO. “MCNC completing the Hero Project is a major milestone for our ongoing work to close the digital divide.”

About MCNC
MCNC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit client-focused technology organization. Founded in 1980, MCNC owns and operates the North Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN), one of America’s longest-running regional research and education networks. With over 45 years of innovation, MCNC provides high-performance services for education, research, libraries, healthcare, public safety, and other community anchor institutions throughout North Carolina. NCREN is the fundamental broadband infrastructure for over 850 of these institutions including all public K-20 education in North Carolina. As one of the nation’s premier middle-mile fiber backbone networks, MCNC leverages NCREN to customize protected Internet, cybersecurity services, and related applications for each client while supporting private service providers in bringing cost-efficient connectivity to rural and underserved communities in North Carolina.

Visit www.mcnc.org. MCNC Social: Facebook, X, YouTube, LinkedIn.

Graphics & Images

The following imagery are available for download. For any other images or logos, please contact MCNC.

HERO Completion Infographic | JPG Image

MCNC Network Map | JPG Image or PNG Image

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RALEIGH, N.C., July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — MCM Technology, leading intelligent operations readiness platform provider for public safety, today announced the appointment of Scott Roehrenbeck as Chief Technology Officer, the latest milestone in the company’s continued investment in technology leadership and artificial intelligence following CEO Anthony Rotoli’s appointment earlier this year.

Roehrenbeck joins MCM as the company accelerates its platform for intelligent operations, bringing more than 20 years of engineering leadership experience, including direct, hands-on work building AI-powered systems. Roehrenbeck’s arrival reinforces MCM’s commitment to giving public safety agencies the proactive, predictive, and conversational capabilities they need to run more intelligent operations, improve readiness, strengthen compliance, and stay ahead of risk.

Most recently, Roehrenbeck served as Chief Technology Officer at Apptegy, a communications SaaS platform. There, he led a full engineering transformation, building the team and foundational practices behind the company’s AI exploration initiative and laying the groundwork for AI-powered features that the company later launched at scale. He also served as an External Technology Advisor to Bain & Company, advising consultants and their clients on engineering leadership, AI adoption, and technology strategy for high-growth organizations.

“Scott’s track record speaks for itself. He’s built foundations that turned into real, shipped products and that’s what we’re really excited about,” said Anthony Rotoli, CEO of MCM Technology. “As we build the next era of our platform, having a technology leader with Scott’s depth of hands-on AI experience and proven ability to scale engineering organizations is going to be instrumental for our team and for our customers.”

As CTO, Roehrenbeck will lead MCM’s engineering organization and oversee the company’s continued advancement of its AI-enabled platform, working closely with Rotoli to deliver on MCM’s outcomes-driven roadmap for public safety agencies nationwide.

“MCM has spent two decades building trust with public safety agencies that depend on this platform every single day,” Roehrenbeck said. “I’m looking forward to bringing the same outcomes-driven approach that’s worked throughout my career to help MCM’s customers get more out of their data, remain accountable, and stay ahead of risk.”

About MCM Technology
MCM Technology is a leading provider of intelligent operations management for the public safety sector, with more than 300 systems deployed nationwide. Its platform is purpose-built for public safety, giving agencies the visibility, automation, and predictive intelligence they need to stay ahead of risk while remaining configurable to each agency’s unique workflows and easy to integrate with existing systems. Learn more at mcmtechnology.com.

Media Contact
Kae Kronthaler-Williams
media@mcmtechnology.com

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SOURCE MCM Technology

Welcomes Melissa Keohane as COO and Kevin Bocek as CPO, Eric Kumar takes on expanded role as CCO

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — With investments in modernizing manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and defense accelerating, Corsha is at the center of connecting operational technology (OT) and defending against a rapidly evolving threat landscape. To fuel the next phase of innovation and growth, Corsha is thrilled to expand its executive team:

Melissa Keohane, Chief Operating Officer: Melissa will lead Corsha’s internal operations, overseeing functions including finance, human resources, legal, compliance and operational strategy, and will work closely with the leadership team to focus on strengthening organizational effectiveness and building the team and culture needed to support the company’s long-term growth.Kevin Bocek, Chief Product Officer: Kevin will drive product strategy to continue building out the Corsha Platform and the Industrial Identity Security category, translating customer and market insights into innovation that secures the future of how OT connects and runs safely.Eric Kumar, Chief Customer Officer: Stepping into the C-Suite, Eric will leverage his strong foundation in customer success to accelerate growth and drive exceptional outcomes for Corsha’s expanding customer base, working closely with organizations to empower them to safely and securely connect in a shifting OT security landscape.

“We envision a wildly more prosperous, productive, and safe world where defense, manufacturing, and critical infrastructure can securely connect to the AI and data revolution,” said Anusha Iyer, CEO and Founder of Corsha. “Corsha unlocks customers to identify and securely connect every machine that manufactures, controls, processes, and transports to the AI and data revolution. I’m thrilled to welcome Melissa and Kevin to the Corsha team, and see Eric take on an expanded role as we help secure more customers.”

Melissa most recently served as SVP of Business Operations at CyberArk, leading the successful integration of Venafi, where she previously served as Chief Legal and People Officer.

“Corsha has built a team, culture, and platform that’s changed how we secure our world and it’s proven out every day by the excitement and support that Corsha customers show,” said Melissa Keohane, Chief Operating Officer at Corsha. “I am delighted to dive in and continue building out Corsha’s talent and operations for innovation and growth.”

Kevin was most recently SVP Innovation at CyberArk and the architect behind the creation of the Machine Identity Security category as Chief Innovation Officer at Venafi.

“As a member of the Corsha Advisory Board, I’ve loved watching how Corsha approached long standing problems in OT with fresh, new thinking to solve customer problems,” shared Kevin Bocek, Chief Product Officer at Corsha. “Using the proven power of Machine Identity, Corsha is helping critical industries go beyond traditional OT networking and security limitations. It’s an exciting next step to come on board and help the Corsha team protect more customers.”

Eric has demonstrated executive versatility in his three-year tenure serving as both Vice President of Operations and Head of Customer Success at Corsha.

“I am thrilled to step into this new role as we are witnessing a pivotal shift in the OT security landscape,” said Eric. “I look forward to driving success for our customers by delivering secure connectivity to the environments that need it most. By leveraging identity security, we are empowering these organizations to safely connect, innovate, and scale.”

To learn more about Corsha’s platform and mission, visit corsha.com.

About Corsha
Corsha securely connects the operational systems that run our world. Corsha is forging a new identity-driven approach to OT security to stop attacks in real time, operate with agility, and modernize with confidence. As the demand to connect operational systems and modern applications surges, industrial enterprises grow more exposed to real-world risk – physical and financial. The Corsha Industrial Identity Security Platform closes this connection gap by helping enterprises easily level up from monitoring to identity-driven action. The platform transforms OT security by bringing together an identity control plane, inline Gatekeepers, and expert intelligence, enabling operational, security, and compliance teams to safely scale automation and adopt new technologies such as predictive analytics, robotic automation, and physical AI. Trusted across industries including aerospace, automotive, consumer goods, data centers, defense, and facilities management Corsha is backed by leading venture investors including Ten Eleven Ventures, Razor’s Edge Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, and Cybernetix Ventures. Learn more at www.corsha.com 

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SOURCE Corsha