National Advisory Council
Dr. Jochen Albrecht is an associate professor in computational and theoretical geography at Hunter College, City University of New York. Prior to that, he has taught at the universities of Maryland, Wisconsin, and Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of one textbook and over fifty refereed articles. Jochen has taught GIS to thousands of students and supervised over 20 masters and six Ph.D. theses.
Jochen has been editor of Transactions in GIS and the URISA Journal. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of URISA as well as of the Board of the Cyberinfrastructure Specialty Group of the AAG. He is a former Chair of AURISA and the Environmental Perception and Behavioral Geography Specialty Group of the AAG.
Jochen’s main interests in the GeoTech Center is the use of open source tools (not just GIS but RS, visualization, stats, etc.), GIS articulation between 2- and 4-year colleges, and the role of practitioners on advisory committees to academic programs – which not coincidentally is also his agenda for the URISAS Board of Directors.
Contact: jochen@hunter.cuny.edu
Max Baber is Director of Academic Programs at the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF), stewarding accreditation of collegiate Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) programs and supporting development of professional GEOINT analyst certification. Dr. Baber received a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Georgia in 1999 and an M.A. in Geography from Georgia State University in 1993. He has served in faculty appointments with the Master of Science in Geographic Information Systems program at the University of Redlands and Departments of Geography at Samford University and the University of Northern Colorado. He has developed and implemented a number of funded pedagogical GIScience projects, including support from the National Science Foundation. He has served on the US National Committee to the International Cartographic Association, the executive boards for the Cartography and Geographic Information Society (CaGIS) and the North American Cartographic Information Society (NACIS), and he is a Fellow of the British Cartographic Society (BCS).
Contact: max.baber@usgif.org
Mark Greninger is the Geographic Information Officer (GIO) for the County of Los Angeles. He graduated from Stanford University in 1996 with a degree in Environmental Geology, but quickly became passionate about GIS and has been in the field since then, starting with command line Arc/Info. He began his GIS career by building an Enterprise GIS System for the Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco. After the EPA, he moved to Los Angeles County, where he has been for over 10 years.
He is the County's first GIO, a position he has held for the past 5 years. As GIO, he oversees the development, governance, and activities of the County Enterprise GIS Program and Enterprise GIS infrastructure. He leads collaborative efforts with other jurisdictions to acquire region-wide data sets, and develop standards recommendations for adoption and implementation, in order to ensure the deployment and effective use of geography and geospatial technologies for the County’s 100,000 employees and 10 million residents.
Contact: MGreninger@cia.lacounty.gov
Bill Hodge is the Executive Director of the GIS Certification Institute (GISCI), holding this position since mid-2013. He had been with the City of Midland, TX as their GIS Division Manager, for 8 years, until his retirement there in October 2014. He has a variety of experience in the GIS arena, acquired over the last 16 years, starting as a Planner with the NRCS and continuing with the City of Midland. He is a proud member of the GISCI family of GISP Certified professionals.
Contact: 325-315-3251 or bhodge@gisci.org
Tim Johnson is the Director of the North Carolina Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (CGIA). CGIA is the lead state agency for GIS and is a part of the Office of the State Chief Information Officer. He manages all CGIA operations and provides staff support to the Geographic Information Coordinating Council (GICC), a legislatively established body that guides GIS implementation in North Carolina. Tim has served as Director of CGIA since 2000 and has been part of the agency for 25 years. Before working there, Tim worked in GIS in the private sector as a project manager and analyst. He is a native North Carolinian and received a bachelor’s degree in geography from Appalachian State University and a master’s degree in geography and GIS from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Contact: 919-754-6588 or tim.johnson@nc.gov
Dr. Marguerite Madden is a Professor in the Department of Geography at The University of Georgia (UGA) and Director of the Center for Geospatial Research (CGR). She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in Biology from the State University of New York and her Ph.D. in Ecology in 1990 from UGA. Her research for over 30 years has focused on geographic information science (GIScience) and landscape ecology. She is a Past President of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and Past Technical Commission President of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS), Commission IV, Geodatabases and Digital Mapping, (2008-2012). She currently servies as Second Vice President on the ISPRS Council (2012-2014) and is the Editor of the 2009 ASPRS Manual of Geographic Information Systems.
Contact: 706-542-2379 or mmadden@uga.edu
Twyla McDermott has over 27 years of experience in GIS technology leadership, consulting, research and analysis for a number of retail, urban development, health care and government agencies, Twyla McDermott is a war-torn yet grounded GIS veteran. Twyla currently works at the City of Charlotte with executive leadership responsibilities for enterprise GIS and other corporate technology programs that span the City departments. Twyla holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Geology from the University of North Carolina, a Masters degree in Geography from Appalachian State University and a degree in Accounting from King’s College. Outside of GIS, Twyla enjoys the adventures of traveling, learning and working as part of her family’s wine business.
Contact: 704-451-0555 or tmcdermott@charlottenc.gov
Rich Serby founded GeoSearch, Inc. in 1988 after 18 years as an educator and career counselor. He decided to specialize in the mapping industry because of the tremendous growth in GIS and photogrammetric technologies. Mr. Serby has worked with hundreds of companies and public agencies. He continues to focus his recruitment efforts on the geospatial sciences as they are used in mapping, business, health care, insurance and other industries. "I consider this a very exciting time for the mapping applied sciences".
Contact: 719-575-9100 or rich@geosearch.com
Sheila Wilson
Contact: 918-513-9124 or smcgintywilson@select-engineering.com
Demetrio Zourarakis serves as GIS and remote sensing analyst with the Kentucky Division of Geographic Information. Data processing, information analysis, outreach, agency consultation and coordination, and administration of the Esri postsecondary Site License Program, are among his duties. He holds GISP (GISCI) and Certified Mapping Scientist (ASPRS) – both Remote Sensing and GIS/LIS certifications, and contributes regularly to the educational and professional development of the geospatial community-of-practice of the Commonwealth. Demetrio is active in the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, and the Kentucky Association of Mapping Professionals, where he has served as Chair of the Education and Professional Development Committee for several years. In addition to serving in numerous committees and advisory workgroups, such as the 2014 ASPRS Conference (Louisville, KY) Organizing Committee, he presents regularly at conferences, instructs at workshops and has published several articles.
Contact: 502-564-6246 or demetrio.zourarakis@ky.gov
