B. Keith Fulton
Director

B. Keith Fulton is president of Verizon West Virginia, where he oversees the company’s operations and financial matters in the state and has responsibility for Verizon’s public policy, external affairs and regulatory matters in the state. Verizon is the prime player in West Virginia’s competitive telecommunications market, with more than 2,200 men and women dedicated to providing customers with quality service, broadband and innovative products. Keith’s work builds on the strengths of Verizon’s employees and reputation to meet the communications and broadband needs of West Virginia. Verizon Communications is the country’s largest telecommunications provider.

Fulton joined Verizon in 2004 as vice president of strategic alliances and corporate responsibility, where he led a Washington, D.C.-based team that worked with more than 100 national organizations on communications related public policy issues. Prior to joining Verizon, Fulton was a senior policy analyst for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Policy Analysis and Development (OPAD), supporting the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s role as principal adviser to the President, Vice President, and Secretary of Commerce on telecommunications and information policies. At Commerce, Fulton focused on Internet, broadband, VoIP, wireless spectrum and wireless broadband issues.

Fulton also spent several years as vice president of the AOL Time Warner Foundation and as vice president for Time Warner’s Corporate Relations division, responsible for managing and developing domestic and international programs that promoted digital opportunity. Fulton also worked on communications and policy issues that advanced the AOL Time Warner business. Previously, Fulton founded and directed the Technology Programs and Policy office of the National Urban League, where he was responsible for crafting and guiding the League’s strategic technology vision on behalf of the national office and its 115 local affiliates.

Fulton is best known for his efforts to bring critical thinking, resources, and thoughtful public policy together to help bridge the digital divide. Key projects included: building hundreds of “Digital Campus” community technology access centers; the Digital Divide Network - an online clearinghouse of information about the digital divide; the Education Technology Leadership Institute - which helped teachers to gain skills to use technology effectively; PowerUP.org - a collaborative public/private venture organized to bring technology resources and skills to over 250,000 youth per week; and Peace Packs - which equipped Peace Corps volunteers with computers and Internet access in over 70 countries.

Fulton has served as a board member of Virginia State University; the Virginia Tech Alumni Association; Per Scholas; Gifts in Kind International, Howard University’s School of Communications, and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills – a consortium of blue-chip companies working to elevate the information and communications technology skills of America’s youth. He is a member of the board for the American Association of People with Disabilities and the National Caucus of the Black Aged. In West Virginia, Keith is a member of Vision Shared, the Governor’s 21st Century Jobs Cabinet, the West Virginia Center for Professional Development, the West Virginia Business Roundtable, and the Discover the Real West Virginia Foundation. He has also counseled several professional technology groups on innovation and has given congressional testimony on creating digital opportunity for all. Fulton has received numerous awards, most notably the "Technology Pioneer Award" for leadership in public/private technology ventures from the U. S. Congress and a Computerworld Smithsonian Laureates Medal for technology leadership. His influential papers on technology are permanently archived at the Smithsonian Institute.

Fulton earned a B.A. from Virginia Tech in Urban Affairs & Planning with two years of Computer Engineering and a minor in Sociology. He earned a professional certificate in Management and Policy Analysis from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Keith is a Sloan Fellow and earned his M.S. in Management and Policy Analysis from the New School’s Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy. He earned his J.D., with a focus on Electronic Commerce, Intellectual Property and Telecommunications Law at New York Law School. Fulton is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.

Fulton is a native of Virginia and resides in West Virginia with his wife, Ingrid, and twin boys, Joshua and Terrell.