Tamarah Holmes’ path to leading a state agency began years earlier in local government. In roles in New Jersey, Richmond and Chesterfield County, she helped communities grow through economic and community development programs.
Explaining that work to her children wasn’t always easy. She could point to a welcome sign or a sidewalk and say, “Mommy did that.” They could see the result, but not always the planning or paperwork behind it.
Broadband was different.
While Holmes couldn’t point to a fiber line buried underground, she could explain what made it possible.
“There are kids who don’t have broadband, so they can’t go to school online at home,” she’d tell them.
Helping expand broadband access across Virginia became one of the defining projects of her career. In February, Gov. Abigail Spanberger named Holmes director of the Department of Housing and Community Development, the agency where she spent more than a decade helping build Virginia’s broadband program.
After applying for the director’s position last November, she got the call in February. Holmes says she cried when she learned she had been selected.
“I thought I’d end my career at DHCD. I just didn’t think I’d end up as director,” she marvels.
Directing Millions in Broadband Investments
Holmes joined the agency in 2014 as a policy director, reviewing its grant programs. Three years later, she took on a small pilot to expand broadband, alongside her existing job.
The pilot started with just $1 million in funding. Over the next several years, it grew to $750 million. With additional federal funding, the total investment stands at $1.5 billion.
Virginia had more than 400,000 locations lacking broadband when its push to expand access began in 2017. Today, fewer than 100,000 remain, with federal funding in place to close that gap.
Early on, Holmes remembers telling school IT directors in Southside Virginia that the kindergartners would have internet at home by the time they reached third grade. Back then, some kids had school laptops but no access to the internet, so they were stuck doing homework on paper. Many of those kindergartners have since grown up with the broadband access Holmes promised would arrive.
Holmes helped establish the Office of Broadband in 2019. Instead of relying on private providers to decide where broadband would be expanded, the state partnered with local governments that knew which roads and neighborhoods still had no service. Those local partners worked with internet providers to bring broadband to the underserved communities.
“Those children and my promise have fueled so much of my recent work — and I haven’t stopped pushing to get them access to the internet,” Holmes says.
Building a Career With VRS Benefits
Nearly 25 years into her public service career, Holmes says understanding her VRS benefits helped her confidently take the next step into agency leadership and eventually retirement. She encourages employees to learn about their retirement benefits early and ask questions before major career decisions arise.
After all, Holmes describes her entire career as helping communities build a plan and then work that plan, whether it’s broadband or economic development.
“It’s no different when you’re thinking about your personal life,” she says.
Reflecting on her years in public service, Holmes doesn’t point first to funding totals or infrastructure projects. Instead, she thinks about the partnerships that helped bring broadband access to hundreds of thousands of Virginians.
“I think most folks would say that I brought people together.”
