Captain Todd “Ike” Kiefer, USN (ret.) is president of North Lauderdale Water Association in Bailey MS, where he is spearheading deployment of cutting-edge technology in rural utilities, including plant automation, back-office software development and integration, and rural fixed wireless broadband via a self-deployed private LTE network. His 14-year career in public utilities began with 2 years in command of the sprawling Al Asad Air Base in Iraq and also includes 6 years on the management team of East Mississippi Electric Power Association. He has served as economic development and utility development advisor to local county government and has been principal author of multiple utility bills passed into law by the Mississippi legislature. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, the U. S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the Joint Forces Staff College. He flew the carrier-based EA-6B Prowler as a Naval aviator; was an operational test pilot; earned degrees in physics, strategy, and military history; served on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon, and capped off his military career as the CJCS Chair for Joint Warfighting at the Air Force Air War College, where he researched and published on primary and alternative energy.