In 2012, the USTTI celebrated its 30th Anniversary year of providing diverse tuition-free training for ICT officials and entrepreneurs from the developing world. Today, the USTTI's 8,774 graduates span the globe, leading the ICT revolution in 171 developing nations.

2012 marked several noteworthy events in addition to the USTTI's 80 core course curriculum. We launched our first best practices training course hosted by the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. We were happy to finally train a Libyan official in October, an internet engineer named Alla Basim who is now back in Libya working to make modern communications accessible to all his fellow countrymen. We also conducted out-of-country training in Nairobi, Kenya on the all-important analog to digital transition for broadcasters and regulators from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

2013 promises to be another challenging year full of opportunities to empower enlightened women and men who are at the forefront of their countries' ICT journey. Besides offering 81 ICT courses, the USTTI will also work with industry and government leaders to conduct a special Analog to Digital seminar for those developing countries who have still not made that important transition to an all-digital infrastructure. Helped by the USTTI's aggressive training we expect the exponential growth of mobile wireless deployment to continue throughout the developing world, bringing mobile platforms for the Internet to connect even the most remote village in the developing world. With this continued Internet expansion, the economic development and social benefits to even the poorest developing country are becoming a reality of huge significance.

On behalf of the USTTI Board of Directors, we thank the scores of ICT expert volunteers from US industry, federal government and academia who each year provide the USTTI's tuition-free training. We also salute all our graduates - including the 329 women and men who attended USTTI training in 2012. As our graduates all know, we are their partners as they tenaciously pioneer the ICT future for their fellow countrymen in 171 developing countries.

Michael R. Gardner
Chairman, USTTI