Susan Corbett, CEO at Axiom Technologies in Machias, has led the expansion of broadband internet in Washington County over the last decade, while advocating for rural broadband throughout Maine and the country. Starting with one wireless connection in 2005, the company has grown to cover over 2,500 square miles of the state’s poorest county with high-speed wireless internet. “A broadband connection has the power to change a person’s life, but it can also change the economic status of a region,” Corbett says. With the help of a $1.4 million federal grant from 2010 to 2013, Axiom worked with the nursing, fishing, and farming industries to expand internet adoption and computer training. In 2014, Corbett started the nonprofit side of Axiom, Axiom Education and Training Center, to teach people how to use the internet. Since then, the organization has assisted nearly 400 businesses and over 4,000 individuals. Axiom and its nonprofit now employ nearly 50 people, all from Washington County. This spring Axiom received
a $72,800 grant from Microsoft to provide internet access to over three dozen homes in Washington County. “We will not stop until every home is served with a broadband connection, opening new doors for both businesses and individuals,” Corbett says. “I am proud of the work we have accomplished to connect people to the internet.”