It must have been the winter of 2000 when I met Gary Johnson. He was a relatively young engineer with a remarkable grasp of technology and the needs of Paul Bunyan Telephone’s members. He was part of a group of Minnesota telephone companies exploring video-on-demand.¹

Fast-forward to today and Gary is retiring from the company where he started his career. For the last 12 years, Johnson has been shepherding Paul Bunyan Communications as General Manager/CEO.² He has seen Paul Bunyan grow from approximately 6,000 to over 35,000 customers and members. While other telecommunications companies reduced employment over this time frame, Paul Bunyan has seen its employee base more than quadruple.

As a software engineer, Gary was a pioneer in an industry still heavily reliant on hardware. His skills were instrumental as Paul Bunyan transitioned from traditional copper lines to fiber optics. He and his team have navigated the transition from purpose-built networks, to software-defined networks that serve multiple applications.

In the above video, Gary reflects on the company’s evolution. The video also features images of some of the beautiful locations PBC serves.

Despite technological advancements, Johnson emphasizes that Paul Bunyan’s core mission of connecting its members to the world remains unchanged. Like his predecessor, Paul Freude, Gary leaves a lasting legacy. This leading-edge communications cooperative is well-positioned to leverage new technologies. The PBC team, now led by Chad Bullock, is on solid footing to continue to help its customers thrive in its rural Northern Minnesota footprint.

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Viodi interviews with and references to Gary Johnson through the years

• TelcoTV’s Terrific Turnout (2002)
• Screens Everywhere (CES 2007)
• MTA Public Service Award Winner – Gary Johnson (2008)
• Open Video Rules Make BB a Reality for the Unserved (2014)
• Stepping Into the GigaZone – A Commitment to Local Economic Development (2014)
• Bigger, Better Broadband in Bemidji & Beyond (2021)
• The Next Generation Community Event (2023)
• From GigaZone to GigaTechXpo (2023)

1. The details of the meeting are fuzzy. In addition to Gary, Vince Tyson, who was also with Paul Bunyan Telephone, and someone from Hutcheson Telephone was at the meeting. Video on Demand service providers they visited on that trip, included DIVA, Intertainer, and DemandVIdeo (where this author worked). Next Level Communications (NLC) may have coordinated the meeting. NLC was the access network equipment provider these companies were using to provide a triple play package of voice, video, and data over a hybrid network of fiber and copper using VDSL for the last-mile. ↩︎
2. At some point in the 2000s, the name was changed to from telephone to communications to reflect PBC’s expanded service offering. ↩︎