Barb has been in the community economic development field for the past decade and has a passion for local economies and building community capacity. She has been the Connected Communities Coordinator in Parkland County, AB since spring 2015 and responsible for the Smart Parkland project. In taking over the project she has facilitated an expansion on the tower/fiber network in the community as well as engaged stakeholders to create community programming that focuses on building knowledge workforce, digital inclusion, innovation, advocacy and the environment. Her long term goal is to see the project continue to grow while it also keeps its same values of working towards rural resilience in an ever changing digital economy.