Mitsuko R. Herrera

Mitsuko Herrera is Director of Montgomery Connects, Montgomery County’s award-winning digital equity program and also lead XR Montgomery, the County’s new Extended Reality (XR) initiative to deploy Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) throughout Montgomery County. XR Montgomery is leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) for speech-to-text recognition, database queries, avatar speech, and language translation. Mitsuko serves as NATOA’s representative on the Federal Communications Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC). CAC has been tasked by the FCC to present recommendations about how to prevent unwanted or malicious AI robocalls and texts, and how AI can be used to support communications for people with disabilities.

Ms. Herrera also provides policy, planning and special project support to Montgomery County’s Chief Broadband Officer and Chief Information Officer, supports MoCoNet, the County’s 100 Mbps residential broadband program, and is the County’s point person for broadband and technology grants planning and development as well as digital equity corporate philanthropy, public private partnerships (P3), and business engagement. She served as an advisor to the Maryland Taskforce on Rural Broadband and as a member of the Maryland Telecommunications Tax Reform Commission, and is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the University of California at San Diego.