2018-01-08

Former President of FirstNet, Joins RapidSOS Advisory Board

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

RapidSOS today announced that TJ Kennedy, former President of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), is joining the RapidSOS Advisory Board.

Kennedy joins the Advisory Board to contribute expertise in public safety and technology from 14 years of leadership experience in the wireless communications and public safety industries.

Kennedy led FirstNet from a startup inside the United States government to become a $40 Billion Public Private Partnership (PPP) that is providing the mission critical 4G LTE network in all 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia. This PPP is the largest ever in the United States and is now providing prioritized and preemptive Public Safety communications across the country to Police, Fire, and EMS.

"What TJ has accomplished at FirstNet proves that the public and private sectors can partner together to build mission critical technology," said Michael Martin, RapidSOS CEO. "We are thrilled to have TJ onboard as we work to provide rich data from millions of connected devices to 9-1-1 and first responder systems."

Prior to joining FirstNet, Kennedy was the President of Raytheon JPS Communications and led the Public Safety business at Raytheon.

Kennedy said: "Having spent the majority of my career in public safety, I am thrilled to join RapidSOS as they build technology that will transform the industry. Working together, we are going to bring innovative technology solutions to our nation's call-takers, dispatchers, and first responders that will save lives."

Kennedy joins three former FCC Chairmen, senior executives from Apple, AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, and Lucent, past presidents of the major public safety organizations, and thought leaders across health and medicine from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in building RapidSOS' NG9-1-1 Clearinghouse solution.