Our Region's Digital Future

Our Region’s Digital Future is an online panel of the 30th RPA Assembly.

Leecia Eve serves as Vice President of Public Policy at Verizon, focused on driving Verizon’s deployment of 5G in the New York metro region. She previously served as Vice President for State Government Affairs, overseeing public policy, government and external affairs, regulatory affairs and philanthropy in the Tri-State area.

Before joining Verizon in July 2013, Ms. Eve served as the Deputy Secretary for Economic Development for New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. She previously served as Senate Counsel and Homeland Security Advisor to then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and as Senate Judiciary Committee Counsel to then-Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.

John Paul Farmer is the Chief Technology Officer of the City of New York. As NYC CTO, he leads a diverse team in delivering technology policy, programs, and products to better serve New Yorkers and build a more future-ready city. John is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Previously, John was Managing Director of Microsoft Cities, based in New York. There, he led a cross-functional team to build partnerships and co-design technology products that make communities more livable, more vibrant, and more equitable. As the Founder & CEO of The Innovation Project, John spread innovation best practices worldwide. His work has been featured in Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, WIRED, the Washington Post, TechCrunch, and the Harvard Business Review.

John served as the Senior Advisor for Innovation at the White House under President Barack Obama, where he co-founded and led the Presidential Innovation Fellows program to attract top private sector change-makers for focused tours of duty in government. Prior to the U.S. government, John built new business units in the private sector. He played professional baseball in the minor league systems of the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers.

John is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds an M.B.A. with honors from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University and an A.B. with honors from Harvard University.

Chris Levendos is Vice President of Network Engineering and Operations for Crown Castle’s national fiber infrastructure network. Crown Castle’s comprehensive portfolio of towers, small cells, and fiber gives people and communities access to essential data, technology and wireless service and opens the door to countless opportunities and possibilities. Chris is based in White Plains, NY.

Chris was previously Executive Vice President of Field Operations for Frontier Communications where he was responsible for service delivery across twenty-nine states. Prior to joining Frontier, Chris was an executive of Google Fiber (Alphabet), where he led Network Deployment and Operations and helped expand Google Fiber’s network operations from three cities to ten cities.

Mr. Levendos also served as Region President of New York City for Verizon, where he worked for twenty-six years. Prior to that he served as Vice President of National Operations and supported Verizon’s annual capital program investments and operational process improvements. He joined New York Telephone as a field technician in Harlem in 1989, and served in positions of increasing responsibility in operations and engineering. While at Verizon, his teams led the planning, design and early build of Verizon’s fiber-to-the-home network across New York City.

He helped lead a number of key operational innovations in fiber-optic deployment and holds two patents. After super-storm Sandy, Chris led the recovery effort of Verizon’s wireline infrastructure in Lower Manhattan, converting the entire local distribution system to fiber-optic based infrastructure within six months. Chris is a native New Yorker who proudly serves on the boards for Junior Achievement of New York, the Regional Planning Association (RPA), the steering committee for the Association for a Better New York (ABNY) and is a member of the President’s Leadership Council at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Chris holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, where he was a member of the Phi Alpha Theta Historical Honor Society. Chris also received a master’s degree in urban planning from New York University and a master’s degree in telecommunications management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Javier is the Chief Strategy Officer for Red Hook Initiative, one of New York City’s more successful youth development not-for-profit organizations. Javier leads RHI’s community building, urban farming and neighborhood Wi-Fi programs. In addition, he co-leads the organization’s development, external affairs and racial equity work.

Before joining RHI, Javier spent 15 years spearheading racial and gender justice policies and programs that aim to improve public health, expand public transportation, end urban gun violence and improve access to affordable housing (focus: communities of color).

He brings deep expertise in collaborative efforts to advance racial equity and is a frequent speaker on how public health is the best system to support racial equity.

Javier has extensive experience in eradicating urban gun violence.

He comes to the work offering racial justice centered tools that include research, policy analysis, program planning and narrative change.

During his free time Javier co-facilitates ​“How to advocate for racial justice in your school” with parents of students of color school throughout New York City. He is a husband to his wife Michelle and a father to Ava, Maximilian and Leandro.

Nicola (Nicki) Palmer is the Chief Product Development Officer for Verizon. Nicki oversees the growth and expansion of the 5G ecosystem, convening partners, and developing products and services to advance 5G growth and device technology.

Previously she was responsible for the planning, operations, and engineering of the nation’s largest and most awarded 4G LTE wireless network, the company’s 5G residential broadband, and 5G mobile network.

Palmer began her career at Bell Atlantic in 1990 and has held a number of leadership positions in engineering, operations, and technology supporting advanced data and wireless products. Among many highlights throughout her career at Verizon, she was responsible for the planning, design, and operation of global voice, data and IP networks, and also led the engineering and operations of the nation’s premier fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network; which powers Verizon’s FiOS data and TV services.

She is active in a number of organizations including the National Academy Foundation, and is a passionate advocate for promoting education and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), especially for young women. She has been recognized by Fierce Wireless as one of the industry Women to Watch, a Top 100 CIO/CTO Leaders in STEM by STEMCONNECTOR, and as one of the Most Influential Women in Wireless. Nicki has also been honored by Working Mother magazine and Girl Scouts of Greater New York.

Palmer earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Penn State University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. She resides in New Jersey with her husband and three children.

Jason Post is the Director of Global Communications & Public Affairs for Google. He previously worked at Uber Technologies, Inc. where he was the Director of Public Policy & Communications. Before his time at Uber, Jason was a Managing Director of Teneo Strategy. He also served in the administration of NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and worked at the NYPD as a spokesman and aide to the Police Commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly. Mr. Post produced the NY1 News political news program Inside City Hall. He sits on the board of the Regional Plan Association and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.