Series
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UPCOMING WEBINAR SESSIONS
PAST WEBINAR SESSIONS
Series Moderators/MCs and Hosts
Nadine Alameh
Executive Director, Taylor Geospatial Institute
Nadine Alameh is the Executive Director of the Taylor Geospatial Institute, a position she assumed in September 2023. A world-renowned geospatial expert, Nadine was previously the CEO and president of the Open Geospatial Consortium. She is also an appointed member of the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Geospatial Advisory Committee and a board member of the United Nations Geospatial Global Information Management Private Sector Network. Before taking the helm at OGC, Nadine held various roles in industry, from the chief architect for innovation in Northrop Grumman’s Civil Solutions Unit, to CEO of an aviation data exchange startup, to senior technical advisor to NASA’s Applied Science Program. In the early 2000s, she launched and led several successful startups. Nadine has received numerous honors during her career, including the 2019 Geomatics Canada Leadership in Diversity Award, the 2022 Geospatial World Diversity Champion of the Year Award, and the 2023 Women in Technology Leadership Award in the nonprofit and academia category. Nadine earned a doctorate in computer and information systems engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also earned master’s degrees in civil and environmental engineering and city planning. She earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the American University of Beirut.
Barbara Ryan
Former Executive Director, World Geospatial Industry Council
Barbara Ryan recently retired as Executive Director of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIS). Under Barbara Ryan’s leadership, millions of satellite images were made available to the general public at no charge, allowing scientists, planners, and policy makers to make better-informed decisions on a range of environmental problems. Her advocacy for revamping the 36-year-old Landsat Data Policy (in 2008) resulted in annual economic benefits of $2.1B globally. Barbara’s career began in 1974 at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) where she spent the next 34 years working in seven States and Washington, D.C. From 2008 to 2012, she was Director of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Space Programme, and from 2012 to 2018, Ryan was the Secretariat Director of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in Geneva, Switzerland. In January 2021, Barbara became WGIC's second Executive Director. WGIC is a global not-for-profit trade association of private-sector companies working in the geospatial and Earth observation ecosystem. Barbara's interests build on a long career in environmental governance, science and technology, and international collaboration. She is a strong advocate for open data policies, the integration of Earth observations, and hyper-partnering to ensure that existing and planned resources can be more effectively used to address the significant environmental and social issues facing the world today.
Will Sarni
Founder & CEO, Water Foundry
Will Sarni is the Founder and CEO of Water Foundry, and the Founder and General Partner of Water Foundry Ventures. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on water strategy and innovation, and has authored numerous books and articles and presented on: the value of water, innovations in digital water technology, the circular economy and the energy-water-food nexus. will has been a water strategy advisor to private and public-sector enterprises and NGOs for his entire career. He has worked with multinational companies across a range of industry sectors in evaluating the technical viability and market potential of innovative water technologies, market entry strategies and M&A programmes. Will is a Board Member of 10.10.10 (www.101010.net) and ASSET (www.assetcampaign.org) and Founder of WetDATA.org. He was a 2016 X-PRIZE Bold Visioneer for the Safe Drinking Water Team and is on the: Scientific Program Committee for Stockholm World Water Week; Executive Council of NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS); Editorial Board of the Journal of Water Security; and a Technical Advisor for the Climate Bonds Initiative: Nature-Based Solutions for Climate and Water Resilience.
Keith Masback
Principal Consultant, Plum Run, LLC
Keith Masback is a leading international authority with over 30 years’ experience in geospatial intelligence (remote sensing + geospatial/location data & information + analytics + visualization). He is currently focused on providing strategic advice and counsel to a broad portfolio of leading edge startups, focused on product-market fit, go-to-market planning & execution, coaching, mentoring, and relationship building. Masback was recognized as the 2019 Geospatial Ambassador of the Year by Geospatial World Media. He led and inspired teams from 25 to over 500, in the US and abroad. Masback served as a member of the Intelligence Task Force of the Defense Science Board and the Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES). He was Immediate past Chairman of the Department of Interior's National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), and currently serves as a member of the Mapping Science Committee of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the NGAC's Landsat Advisory Committee, a Councilor and Fellow of the American Geographical Society (AGS), a Non-Resident Advisor for Industry Partnerships for the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, and a member of the Advisory Boards of both the International Spy Museum and Global Special Operations Forces Foundation.
David Holdstock
Author/CEO, Geographic Technologies Group
David Holdstock, BA, MS, a geographic information systems (GIS) Professional and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), co-established and incorporated Geographic Technologies Group, Inc. in 1997. David is a GIS practitioner and a leading expert in developing enterprise and sustainable GIS strategic implementation plans for towns, cities, and counties. Over the past 25 years, he has planned, designed, and coordinated the adoption and implementation of GIS technology for over 300 local government organizations. He has published many articles on GIS strategic implementation planning for local government. David has conducted hundreds of workshops, seminars, and discussions on GIS implementation, and has been keynote speaker in numerous events. David has published two books on GIS strategic planning including “Strategic GIS Planning and Management in Local Government”, 2017, and “Smart Geospatial Practices and Applications in Local Government: An Altogether Different Language” 2020. In 1997, David left ITRE to start Geographic Technologies Group. GTG is a leading provider of GIS software and services. The company has been recognized as one of the "100 Most Promising Companies" by Forbes and one of the "500 Fastest Growing Companies" by Inc.
Dr. Nikolas Smilovsky, PhD, GISP
Geospatial Solutions Director, Bad Elf
Nikolas Smilovsky, PhD, GISP is a Geospatial Evangelist, Solutions Provider, and Educator, as well as Geospatial Solutions Director with Bad Elf. For nearly two decades Nik has focused his efforts on the professional and academic expansion of the geospatial professions. Whether working for a plethora of different types of private consulting firms collecting, analyzing, and displaying geographic data or working as an academic, researching and contributing to the corpus of educational knowledge, his passion in life is geography. As an energetic and enthusiastic public speaker, teacher, and thought leader he has enjoyed sharing successes with others and seeing them flourish. Specifically, his interests in the geospatial fields include the geography of behavior, sustainable and resilient geodesign, geographic science pedagogy (especially online education), and geospatial technologies as a whole. Nik loves innovative GIS tech and is a Geoholic! He is also a certified arborist, UAS Remote Pilot and Esri ArcGIS professional.
Conference Format
Hosted on an exciting and interactive virtual event platform, this event series features a virtual auditorium, plus audience interaction via Q&A and Polls.
This event may qualify for GIS Certification Institute continuing education credits.
To submit for GISP Points, visit www.gisci.org to self-submit the event curriculum for approval
SPONSORS and SUPPORTERS
Bad Elf GNSS receivers deliver affordable accuracy through easy-to-use hardware supported by continuously evolving firmware, apps, and cloud services. Founded in 2010, Bad Elf created the first Made for iOS external GPS accessory and now enables high performance location services for all mobile platforms.
Geographic Technologies Group (GTG) is committed to advancing the science of location intelligence and geospatial technology. We want to inspire, push the envelope, break through boundaries, solve problems, and introduce a new kind of decision support. We go beyond location intelligence to plan, design, build, implement, transform, and maintain. We use spatial information to empower understanding, influence the decision-making process, offer new insights, reveal new data relationships, predict events, engage and educate the community, and solve problems of the future. The ultimate outcome is a smarter, more resilient, and sustainable government. We create location intelligent organizations!
Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Geospatial Intelligence, Open Source, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contracts. Founded in 2004, Carahsoft is headquartered in Reston, Virginia and employs more than 1,900 professionals dedicated to serving the Public Sector.
The World Geospatial Industry Council is an association of companies representing the entire ecosystem of geospatial industry. WGIC endeavors to enhance the role of the geospatial industry and strengthen its contribution in global economy and society. We facilitate exchange of knowledge within the geospatial industry and co-creation of larger business opportunities for the geospatial industry. We represent business interest, share perspectives of the geospatial industry and undertake policy advocacy and dialogue with public authorities, multilateral agencies and other relevant bodies.