FIBERSMITH ENGINEERING
Our Story
Fibersmith was founded in 2013 by Donny Smith to provide engineering and consulting services to rural internet service providers (ISPs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), rural government entities and other companies that needed assistance with fiber optic designs and consulting.
The company began with a single employee to oversee the inspectors and resident engineers on jobs, complete funding paperwork and serve as onsite designers for clients with network expansion projects. It has now grown to a team of dozens of skilled designers and engineers, field inspectors and consultants.
Fibersmith has expertise in all facets of telecommunications, but specializes in fiber optic design and implementation, especially GPON networks. Our team is also versed in wireless and copper areas of implementation.
We routinely work in design, engineering, and supervision of construction (both inside and outside plant), broadband delivery systems, CATV and wireless systems.
We also help companies apply for grants and loans that are administered by both government (ARRA, RUS, CAF II, ARC, State) and private banking through loans or bonding.
By partnering with a number of firms, manufacturers, and distributors, Fibersmith has helped clients get the attention and resources they need for their projects.
Fibersmith approaches the work of Telecommunications Engineering with an operator’s perspective and has an experienced staff eager to meet the unique set of challenges each project brings.
Our Team
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Donny Smith
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Donny Smith came to work in the telecommunications industry via a circuitous route. His entrepreneurial spirit led to years as a cattle exporter that created his signature Stetson cowboy hat look.
Donny would later go on to spend time as a programmer at IBM, and eventually to work on the first fiber-to-the-home project at Jaguar Communications.
His attempt at retirement was interrupted by continued communication from young entrepreneurs in the telecom industry hoping to learn from his success. Donny re-entered the telecom landscape to found Fibersmith in 2013, expanding fiber design and construction into rural areas.
Donny received a Bachelor of Science in computer science and an MBA from the University of Rochester.
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Nicholas Peña
VICE PRESIDENT
Nicholas Peña has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. What started as a position in a call center eventually developed into a career designing fiber networks.
He joined the Fibersmith team in 2013 and now works alongside internet service providers and contractors to design and build fiber networks nationwide — often in rural areas with limited broadband access. He is deeply familiar with the grant and loan application and construction process, as well as the operational challenges faced by providers of all sizes.
Nicholas received his Bachelor of Science in computer information systems from Columbia College.
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Jennifer Gilman
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Jen Gilman brings over 15 years of extensive experience in management and tactical business leadership, specializing in service teams working as trusted partners to independent businesses across the globe.
She is well versed in managing and participating in large organizational projects to identify and improve process efficiency, standardization of work, IT optimization and employee skills flexibility. In her previous work she managed a ten-million-dollar budget with more than 70 direct reports, twice earning the highest level of recognition awarded by the company.
She now applies these same organizational talents building a productive customer-focused team committed to achieving outstanding service and design standards.
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Lawrence Turner
RESIDENT ENGINEER
Lawrence joined Fibersmith in 2018. Prior to that time, he worked in the engineering and outside plant construction/inspection space for more than 20 years. Lawrence heads up Fibersmith's plant field engineering and construction projects.
He has worked as field inspector and as a resident engineer in the field and has experience with both aerial and underground construction, as well as with permits and public and private easements. He is also versed in several methods of staking and reviewing needs for “make-ready.”