The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) has announced that Jennifer Vassil, the organization’s Vice President of Membership, has been selected as an honoree for the prestigious 2025 Cablefax Most Powerful Women in broadband, telecom, and media list. This acknowledgment highlights Vassil’s significant contributions and strategic impact on the B2B technology community, particularly in expanding and strengthening the FBA’s influence across North America.
This marks the second consecutive year that a high-ranking FBA staff member has been included in the Cablefax Most Powerful Women roster, underscoring the association’s leadership depth and organizational commitment to advancing the fiber industry.
Driving Membership Growth and Community Engagement
Over her five-year tenure with the Fiber Broadband Association, Jennifer Vassil has been the core architect behind several successful programs and initiatives designed to enhance member involvement and broaden the FBA’s ecosystem. Her approach integrates consistent, genuine relationship-building with a clear strategic vision, fostering a communal environment critical for the growth of the fiber broadband sector.
Record-Setting Expansion in the Past Year
Vassil’s leadership has directly correlated with a period of remarkable expansion for the FBA. Over the past twelve months, the Membership Team achieved all-time high metrics in both overall growth and engagement, solidifying the association’s standing as the preeminent voice for the fiber broadband industry.
In 2025 alone, the FBA witnessed nearly a 10% increase in North American membership, reaching the highest total in the organization’s history. This surge in participation reflects a wider industry acknowledgment of the FBA’s value proposition as a trusted center for education, best practices, and collaborative action.
Diversification of Member Base
A key element of this strategic expansion has been the successful effort to diversify the FBA’s member base. The team’s focused outreach has resulted in a substantial increase in participation from network operators and Tribal entities, which now collectively account for 45% of the total membership. This shift indicates a broader, more inclusive representation of the stakeholders actively building and deploying fiber infrastructure across the continent.
Enhancing the Member Experience
Beyond numerical growth, Vassil and her team have prioritized a comprehensive strategy focused on optimizing the practical experience for existing and new members. This enhancement strategy is crucial for sustaining high levels of engagement and ensuring the association remains a vital resource for its community.
Operational and Communications Improvements
Key improvements have been implemented across several operational areas. The team has worked to streamline administrative processes, making it easier for companies to onboard and maintain their active status. Concurrently, communication channels have been enhanced to ensure members receive timely and relevant information. Furthermore, educational and networking platforms have been made more accessible, ensuring that member companies can effortlessly stay informed about industry trends, policy changes, and technological developments.
This focus on operational openness and technological integration reflects Vassil’s belief in fostering an environment of genuine partnership, where emerging technology is blended with human-centric strategy to strengthen the overall broadband ecosystem.
Recognition of Industry Impact
FBA President and CEO Gary Bolton commented on the significance of the recognition, attributing the organization’s continued momentum to Vassil’s strategic efforts. “Jennifer’s unique blend of vision and commitment has created a profound and lasting effect on our membership and, by extension, on the future trajectory of fiber broadband,” Bolton stated. “She leads with genuine purpose and an unwavering drive to reinforce the strength of our community. This continued success is a direct consequence of the team’s strategic focus on engagement, combined with the industry’s increasing reliance on the FBA as the central hub for collaboration and expertise.”
The Cablefax Most Powerful Women awards are designed to recognize female executives whose innovative leadership, creative influence, and overall impact are actively steering the course of the media and telecommunications landscapes.
Precedent for FBA Leadership
Vassil’s recognition follows the 2024 honor bestowed upon Deborah Kish, FBA’s Vice President of Research and Workforce Development. Kish was specifically recognized last year for her pivotal work in developing the association’s successful OpTIC Path™ optical telecom installer certification program, a critical initiative aimed at addressing the fiber industry’s workforce development challenges. The repeated inclusion of FBA executives on this list emphasizes the association’s role as a source of influential and strategic leadership within the broader B2B technology sector.
About the Fiber Broadband Association
The Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) is the voice of fiber, helping providers, policy makers, and communities make informed decisions about how, where, and why to build better fiber broadband networks. FBA is the largest and only trade association that represents the complete fiber ecosystem of service providers, manufacturers, industry experts, and deployment specialists. Since 2001, FBA and its members have worked to advance fiber broadband deployment to accelerate innovation and increase quality of life by enabling every community to leverage the economic and societal benefits that only fiber can deliver. The Fiber Broadband Association is part of the Fibre Council Global Alliance, which is a platform of six global FTTH Councils in North America, LATAM, Europe, MENA, APAC, and South Africa. Learn more at fiberbroadband.org.
