James E. Deaton is the vice president of Network Services. James leads the strategic direction and ongoing operations of Internet2’s world-class network infrastructure and advanced services in support of research, education, and global collaboration. 

James is a seasoned leader in the research and education community with nearly 30 years of experience driving strategic cyberinfrastructure initiatives across state, regional, and national networks. His service to the community includes being a former board chair for The Quilt; chair of Internet2’s Network Architecture, Operations, and Policy Program Advisory Group; member of the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC); and member of multiple advisory groups and committees focused on advancing cyberinfrastructure and cultivating community expertise. 

James has a track record for supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the community, including establishing a regional chapter of Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) associated with the Great Plains CyberTeam, facilitating research and infrastructure advancements in support of minority serving institutions in Oklahoma, and numerous grants and engagements focused on small and underrepresented higher education institutions.  

Most recently, James was the executive director of the Great Plains Network (GPN), a non-profit consortium focused on aggregating networks and advocating for research on behalf of universities and communities across the Midwest and Great Plains. There he established successful multistate collaborations and secured millions of dollars in external funding to address the network and research computing needs of the region. Prior to that, he served as the chief technology officer for OneNet, Oklahoma’s research and education network, where he led the implementation of a highly scalable infrastructure serving research, higher education, K-12 schools, hospitals, libraries, and government, and secured millions of dollars in grant funding to expand its capabilities.