The Board of Directors of ChoiceLight, Inc. announced today that Regina Emberton, CEcD, has been selected to serve as CEO beginning in March 2022. Emberton will replace Mary Jan Hedman following her retirement after nearly 15 years with the organization.
Emberton will oversee the continued growth and development of the dark fiber network in St. Joseph and Marshall counties, building upon ChoiceLight’s current 325 connected professional organizations. The fiber optic company maintains approximately 280 miles of fiber and, under Hedman’s tenure, has seen 14% average year-over-year revenue growth since 2008.
“We’re excited to welcome Regina to the role. With Regina’s leadership experience along with her deep entrepreneurial and collaboration skills, ChoiceLight is poised to build upon the success achieved over the past fifteen years through Mary Jan’s leadership,” said Scott Ford, Chair of the ChoiceLight Board of Directors.
Since 2013, Emberton has served as President & CEO of the South Bend – Elkhart Regional Partnership, which focuses on economic development for 47 communities in northern Indiana and southwest Michigan. Under her leadership, the Regional Partnership catalyzed a culture of inclusive regional collaboration, built a solid organizational infrastructure, developed a thoughtful strategic plan, and led efforts to secure unprecedented investment for the region, including the $42 million Regional Cities Initiative grant, a $42.4 million Lilly Endowment grant to form the LIFT Network, and most recently the $50 million Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) grant.
“ChoiceLight’s dark fiber is among our region’s most vital infrastructure assets,” says Emberton, ChoiceLight’s soon-to-be Chief Executive Officer. “In my economic development work, I’ve seen firsthand the profound growth the network has had on communities’ competitiveness, innovation, workforce preparedness, health care, education, environmental sustainability and more. ChoiceLight has a unique opportunity to extend dark fiber infrastructure and improve other facets of our innovation ecosystem that will enable companies to adopt new technologies and compete in the 21st century. I am excited to continue building upon the success of Mary Jan and her team, helping companies thrive through this era of digital transformation!”
About ChoiceLight, Inc.
ChoiceLight was founded through a public private partnership to improve the economic development climate in South Bend, Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Plymouth, Marshall County and the region by providing broadband infrastructure in the form of dark fiber optic cable.
The fiber optic company maintains approximately 280 miles of fiber and is currently connected to over 300 professional organizations across the region.
