Dana MacKenzie
For many years, Danna MacKenzie was the go-to person regarding information services at the Cook County courthouse. Now she is the go-to person on a state level for the Minnesota Office of Broadband. MacKenzie was appointed to serve as the state’s first-ever executive director of the Office of Broadband Development by Governor Mark Dayton on November 26, 2013.
The Office of Broadband Development is a new state entity that was created during the 2013 legislative session to direct broadband planning and policy statewide. The executive director position pays up to $102,771. MacKenzie, who has 18 years of experience with broadband issues in rural Minnesota, has been the director of information systems for Cook County in Grand Marais since 1998. She has been the administrator for the Cook County Broadband Commission since its formation in 2009 and a member of the Blandin Broadband Strategy Board since 2005. She also is a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Broadband, which was created in 2011 to increase broadband access in Minnesota.
MacKenzie’s last day as Cook County’s director of information systems was Friday, December 20. She sent a note to friends and coworkers saying, “I am excited about the challenge of the new job but will greatly miss this place and the people I worked with in Cook County. My career here has been challenging, fun, and rewarding, and if you are receiving this note, you were a part of that in some way and I thank you. I appreciate our work together and hope to be able to create a similarly positive work environment with my new colleagues in St. Paul.”
“Danna is an outstanding choice, with the leadership skills and experience to direct broadband growth in the state,” said Katie Clark Sieben, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), which will oversee the office. “She is highly regarded in the broadband community and has a unique ability to balance community development and business interests.”
Broadband – or high-speed Internet access – is considered a key economic development tool, with a number of national studies finding that communities with access to broadband have a competitive advantage over areas that don’t have broadband. Increasingly, corporate site selectors expect broadband services to be available in communities where they are considering expansion projects. In many communities, broadband is considered an important piece of the local infrastructure – like gas, water, electricity, wastewater and telecommunications.
Specifically, the Legislature wants the office to collaborate on the development of broadband infrastructure, plan strategy, find federal funding for expansion, recommend policies to improve access, and regularly report on its progress.
MacKenzie, who grew up in the Twin Cities, has a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and leadership from Concordia University in St. Paul. She was a public policy fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in 2011.
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