BendBroadband President, CEO and Chairman Amy Tykeson has won the same award from the Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association that her father, Don Tykeson, received 23 years ago.
Amy Tykeson recently received the William B. Smullin Presidential Award, which recognizes entrepreneurial contributions to the Oregon cable industry.
Smullin was a communications pioneer, first in radio, then in television, then cable TV and microwave. He introduced commercial radio, television and cable television to southern Oregon and northern California.
He founded and served as president of California Oregon Broadcasting Inc. (COBI), the oldest independent continuous broadcasting organization in the west for 63 years. Each year, the Oregon Cable Telecommunications Association, through its board of directors, recognizes an outstanding leader in the cable industry. Named after the original recipient, Smullin, the award honored his entrepreneurial contributions to the Oregon cable industry.
“Amy Tykeson is a recognized leader, both nationally and in the state of Oregon, on telecommunications issues,” commented OCTA executive director Mike Dewey. “Amy continues to bring state-of-the-art technology to BendBroadband’s customers.”
BendBroadband is a small cable operator in Oregon that is known for its progressive thinking on the technology front, including the 1997 launch of high-speed Internet, the 2008 conversion to an all-digital video platform and the 2009 rollout of HSPA+ wireless broadband over licensed spectrum to rural areas.
Earlier this year, the company opened the Vault, the first colocation data center in the United States to receive the Uptime Institute’s Tier III certification for design and construction.
Last month, BendBroadband broke ground on a 132-mile fiber ring that will provide optical network infrastructure to rural cities in central Oregon once it’s completed.
The William B. Smullin Presidential Award is the latest in a string of accomplishments for Tykeson. She has also received the CTAM Mark Award, the WICT Accolades Award, the Wonder Woman Award and the Distinguished Vanguard Award for Leadership, the cable industry’s highest honor. Last year, Tykeson received the Edwin B. Parker Enduring Achievement Award at the Oregon Connections Telecommunications Conference.
Tykeson chairs the Rural Systems and Small Operators’ Committee as a member of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s board of directors. She serves on the board of directors for CableLabs and C-SPAN. Tykeson was inducted into the Cable TV Pioneers in 2008.
