on Jan 30, 2026

HR&A Welcomes Principal Anna Read

Anna Read joins HR&A as Principal with more than a decade of experience at the forefront of broadband policy and implementation. From managing state broadband offices to implementing the $10 billion Capital Projects Fund at the U.S. Department of Treasury, Anna has helped shape how communities nationwide approach digital infrastructure. We sat down with Anna to discuss her path to HR&A and what’s ahead for broadband policy.

 

Can you share a little about your background?

After earning a master’s degree in planning, I started working on rural economic development issues with local governments. Broadband kept coming up as a critical challenge, and that’s when I first became aware of its importance. The issue pulled me in, and I went to work for a state broadband office during the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding, which provided funding to states through the State Broadband Initiative program to support broadband planning, mapping, and technical assistance.

 

That work eventually led me to The Pew Charitable Trusts, where I focused on how states were addressing broadband challenges. It was a fascinating period because the ARRA-funded offices were sunsetting, and a few states had started stepping in to fund these programs themselves and address specific needs.

 

From there, the opportunity came to work at the Capital Projects Fund at the Treasury Department, directly on implementation of that $10 billion American Rescue Plan Act program, which primarily funds broadband but also supports investment in digital connectivity projects and multipurpose community facilities, such as libraries.

 

 

What was the transition from working in rural economic development to broadband? Did they go hand in hand, or did you fall in love with the broadband world?

At the time, my work spanned both rural economic development and other infrastructure-related projects. There was a really interesting intersection there between infrastructure and economic development, and an emerging awareness about inequities in broadband access and the impact that was having on communities.

 

The broadband issue felt compelling, and with the ARRA funding, opportunities were emerging in state offices. States were primarily doing planning work, so the role involved working directly with regional councils on developing their broadband plans: understanding what they were looking for in their region, what their vision was, and the challenges that they were facing.  And there was the ongoing challenge that while states and localities were doing this planning work, they had limited input on federal infrastructure funding.  This often resulted in projects that did not align with state or local broadband needs and priorities.

 

What drew you to HR&A?

With the level of Federal investment over the last five years, there has been a lot of focus on broadband policy and programs. As states work through the implementation of federal funds, new and specific challenges are emerging that need creative solutions. Some states are doing really innovative work, and HR&A is partnering with them on these efforts.

 

One of these challenges will be the shift back from the federal level to state-driven initiatives, which creates space for fresh thinking. Those new and innovative approaches to addressing connectivity challenges are what make this work exciting.

 

What are you seeing around the future of the Broadband and Digital Opportunity sector? What are you anticipating over the next few years?

Over the last few years, much of the activity in the broadband space has been driven by the availability and requirements of federal funding, whether from the American Rescue Plan Act or the BEAD program. States are now in the middle of implementing those programs, and the challenges that follow federal funding implementation will be significant. Compliance policy, issues around the end of the period of federal interest — these will present new policy questions that manifest differently across states and localities. That’s been one of the persistent challenges: this problem doesn’t look the same everywhere, and solutions need to address those specific contexts.

 

And once the federal programs have closed out, there will likely be a shift from a federal policy-driven focus back to something resembling the period between ARRA funding and the recent wave, when states and local governments tackled specific challenges and determined their role in addressing them.  There will be a need to determine what these programs look like and the resources needed to support them once the federal funding has been expended, whether that be ongoing support for infrastructure investment or the ongoing challenges of affordability and adoption.

 

As we move into this next phase, understanding how unique challenges have made certain models work or fail in different places is critical. Efforts to replicate successful approaches can stumble when local conditions differ from the original environment. Given the tremendous activity over the last few years, there’s much to learn about why certain strategies worked or didn’t in specific places, and how those lessons can inform future projects in other areas.

 

Learn more about Anna Read.