The Board of Directors of The Quilt, Inc. is pleased to announce the selection of Jen Leasure to serve as the organization¹s President and Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Leasure was appointed to the position of President and CEO by a unanimous vote of the Board on Thursday, January 29.

The Quilt, Inc., a coalition of 30 advanced regional network organizations, enters its second year as an independent organization. The Quilt provides a dynamic forum where leaders from the advanced research and education network community build on the intellectual capital and best practices of network service providers worldwide.

Since its creation, the Quilt has been continually morphing to meet the demands of its membership. As we further engage in the national debate on the power of broadband and advanced networking and the important role of the academic network community, the board concluded it was time to appoint our first President and CEO, said Paul Schopis, the Chairman of the Board of The Quilt. ³We were lucky to find leader like Jen Leasure to embrace the challenges ahead. Ms. Leasure brings the leadership and common sense abilities to ensure The Quilt plays a respected and trusted role within the networking and broader information technology communities.

In her new role, Ms. Leasure will lead The Quilt to influence the national agenda on information technology infrastructure, with particular emphasis on networking, while promoting the delivery of networking services at lower cost, higher performance and greater reliability and security. Ms. Leasure joined The Quilt as a Program Manager in 2005 to shape the strategic direction of the organization through developing and supporting essential programs. In her 4 years of service, she has shown her ability to successfully articulate and address the issues that are most important to The Quilt and its members. Prior to joining The Quilt, Jen served as Director of Customer Operations for a commercial Internet provider and has over 13 years of experience in the telecommunications and healthcare industries.

The Quilt is a member driven and funded organization which relies on significant volunteer contributions from its participants. Jen knows what members really want and delivers it, said past-Chairman Mark Johnson. As a former Quilt Program Manager, she has been one of the keys to the success of our organization.

"This is an exciting time for Quilt members and the entire research and education community," said Ms. Leasure. With a new national agenda that embraces technology and communication, along with comprehension of the importance of science, I am proud to be able to collaborate with members of The Quilt to advance regional networks as a critical component of the networking infrastructure and help lead the research and education community to evolve the issues that are key to providing advanced networking capabilities to researchers and students.