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Speaker Profiles 2007


Allen Parrish

Allen Parrish is a Professor of Computer Science and Director of the CARE Research & Development Laboratory (CRDL) at The University of Alabama. CRDL is an IT-oriented research and development operation with focus areas in public safety, homeland security, court automation and traffic safety. CRDL was instrumental in the successful statewide deployment of electronic traffic citations in Alabama, as well as in sharing law enforcement information through the very popular Law Enforcement Tactical System (LETS).

Amy Kenum

Amy Kenum, GISP, graduated from the University of North Alabama in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Professional Geography and a GIS Certificate. During college she worked as a surveying assistant for the Natural Resource Conservation Service. After graduation she began her work with the City of Huntsville as a GIS Analyst and has been involved in building and developing GIS data for the City for five years.

Amy Zeller

Amy Zeller is the Product Manager for Visualization at Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging, LLC. Amy oversees development of Leica's visualization software products, including Leica TITAN: an online collaborative network for sharing geospatial data within a community of users (currently in beta). Amy has been with Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging for over seven years, and in that time has also held positions in both sales and marketing. Amy received a Master of City Planning from Georgia Tech in 1996.

Guest Speaker

Berry H. (Nick) Tew, Director, Alabama Geological Survey

Berry H. (Nick) Tew, Director of the Geological Survey of Alabama Nick Tew is Alabama's State Geologist and Oil and Gas Supervisor and Director of the Geological Survey of Alabama (GSA) and the State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama (OGB). Nick, who has earned B.A., B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees, also holds an appointment as an Adjunct Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Alabama. He joined the staff of GSA and OGB in 1984 and, in 1993, established the agencies' GIS/Remote Sensing Program. GSA and OGB were among the first agencies in Alabama to integrate digital geospatial data and technologies into their business practices and have long been leaders in Alabama state government relative to geospatial issues. The agencies are currently involved in a numerous GIS/RS projects related to Alabama's natural resources.

Beverly Richie

Beverly K. Richey is a Geographer; GIS Team Lead; Sustainable Range Program - US Army Corps of Engineers. She is a US Navy Veteran and served from 1981 to 1991. Attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and received a B.A. in Geography in 1994. She developed her career in Defense GIS in Huntsville. Her experience includes supporting the SMDC Geospatial Lab, GIS modeling and simulation development and GIS support to the GMD (Ground Missile Defense) program.

Bob Lozano

Bob Lozano is a technology industry veteran, serial entrepreneur, and co-founder and chief strategist of Appistry, a software company pioneering the convergence of grid computing, virtualization, and service-oriented architecture. Bob founded and led successful companies PaylinX and Tapestry Computing. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Missouri and an MS in electrical engineering from Stanford University. In addition, he has lectured on artificial intelligence at Washington University in St. Louis.

Bruce Westcott

Bruce Westcott is a product consultant for metadata management tools for Intergraph Corporation. He was executive director of the Vermont Center for Geographic Information Inc. (1990-98) and has led workshops on geospatial metadata for over ten years, focusing on business planning and information management. Bruce has consulted with federal, state, and local government enterprises engaged in building the National Spatial Data Infrastructure. He is a past President of the National States' Council for Geographic Information.

Carter Christopher

Carter Christopher is an Area Director for 3001, Inc., serving as a regional manager for business development. Based in 3001's Slidell, LA office, Carter supports 3001's Civil Works division, focusing on state-wide, regional, and local geospatial solutions. He recently completed requirements for his MS in Geography at the University of Southern Mississippi with an emphasis on geographic information technology, digital terrain modeling, and remote sensing.

Charlie Marlin

Charlie Marlin works as a Consultant for Graphic Technologies, Inc. (GTI) in Madison, Alabama. He manages projects, implements applications and assists prospective customers in defining their requirements. Previously, Charlie worked at Intergraph, holding positions of Customer Engineer, Regional Technical Director, Executive Director of the International Graphic Users Group (IGUG), and Executive Manager for Utilities Customer Services. Charlie taught mathematics at Chattanooga State Technical Community College. He graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor's degree in mathematics.

Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson is Vice President of Geospatial Technologies at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and is responsible for management and operations associated with GTAC and the Geospatial Technology programs. Ms. Johnson has over 18 years of experience in systems design; systems development and testing: and over 14 years of experience in GIS development; Relational database systems development; Network engineering; Global Positioning Systems (GPS) development, Remote Sensing and communications.

Dale Lutz

Dale Lutz, Safe Software co-founder, has 16+ years of experience in spatial data interoperability. As Vice President of Product Development, Dale oversees the development of FME with key focus on optimizing the user experience in interactive data transformation environments and integrating spatial ETL technology into third-party GIS applications. Dale also plays an instrumental role in presenting and sharing his spatial ETL expertise at industry events. He recently received his Masters degree in Software Technology.

Damon Dougherty

As an Industry Manager for Intergraph, Mr. Dougherty is responsible for identifying technological trends in the Utilities and Communication industries, influencing product development, as well as doing general market research. His focus is on mobile workforce management and outage management solutions. He holds both a Bachelors and Masters Degree from Texas A&M University. Damon has been with Intergraph for seven years helping customers apply spatial technology to their business.

Dana Keener

Dana Keener received a BS in Professional Geography with a GIS Certificate from the University of North Alabama. She became a GIS Analyst for the City of Huntsville in 2004. Prior to that, she worked as an intern with the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments. While with the City of Huntsville, Dana has assisted in maintaining the storm water database, began the City's intersection mapping project, and received an ESRI Special Achievement in GIS Award.

Darren Dambley

Darren Dambly is the Senior Manager of Government Solutions for Autodesk Government. He is responsible for developing and managing Autodesk's strategy and business solutions within the federal, state and local government sectors. Dambly brings to Autodesk more than 22 years of experience in the deployment of information systems including project management, education and training programs, cost and benefit analysis, business process reengineering, methodology development, technical sales, and product and services marketing. Dambly holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Manitoba.

Dave Campanas

Dave Campanas graduated with honours from the British Columbia Institute of Technology with a diploma in CAD/CAM in 1989. Dave is a member of the Professional Services Group at Safe Software. He has 15 years of aerial mapping experience in Photogrammetry, Quality Assurance and Orthophoto production.

Eric Charette

Eric J. Charette recently joined Intergraph Corporation as a Senior Systems Consultant for the InService product. Previously, Eric worked for Wisconsin Public Service Corporation, where as a Senior Outage Management Engineer, he successfully led the client side implementation of the InService Outage Management Project. Eric attended Michigan Technological University, in Houghton, MI, where we earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, with an emphasis in Power Systems. Eric is also a registered Professional Engineer.

Erin Dyer

Erin Dyer's slight obsession with Geography began while studying the atlas on long car trips as a child. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Alabama in Professional Geography with a GIS Certificate in December of 2001. Upon graduation, she went to work for Intergraph Services Company as an Image Analyst. In 2004, she went to work at her current position as a GIS Analyst for the City of Huntsville, Alabama.

Guest Speaker

Ethan Hadley, Vice President, Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County

Mr. Ethan Hadley is the vice president of Economic Development for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County. Hadley is responsible for organizing and executing an aggressive, competitive and ongoing marketing program to stimulate a high level of corporate development interest in the Huntsville area. His goal is to direct greater business development and investment project activity into Huntsville/Madison County by educating executives in targeted industries and site location consultants about the unique business opportunities in Huntsville. Before coming to Huntsville, Hadley was Director, Asia Business Development for the Alabama Development Office. Prior to holding that position stateside, Hadley represented the State of Alabama in Tokyo where he lived for 15 years. Hadley is married to the former Cristina Fuji of Sao Paulo, Brazil and they have two sons, Caelan and Andrew.

Geoff Zeiss

Geoff has more than 10 years experience developing enterprise geospatial solutions for the utilities, communications, and public works industries. His interests include streamlining infrastructure management workflow, open source geospatial and Web 2.0 and its impact on infrastructure management, and converged BIM/CAD/GIS solutions. Prior to joining Autodesk, Geoff was Director of Product Development at VISION* Solutions which is credited with pioneering RDBMS-based spatial data management, CAD/GIS integration, and long transactions in the utility and telecommunications industries.

George Lawrence Crawford

George "Lawrence" Crawford is the GIS Analyst for AMTEC Corporation. He works for the Army Garrison's Environmental Management Division, Natural & Cultural Resources and Environmental Compliance branches. His work includes creating geospatial databases, image analysis, GPS field work, and quality control. Lawrence has approximately 12 years GIS experience having worked previously for Intergraph (ISC) and Atlantic Technologies here in Huntsville. He has a BA degree in Geography from Auburn University

Grant Gibson

Mr. Gibson's professional experience has covered extensive types of analytical modeling, mapping and spatial statistics. His background includes consultation and the implementation of GIS for municipal agencies, engineering firms and a wide range of other companies and entities. Most recently, Grant and company, GIS Dynamics, have productized Argus, a new leading edge Geographic Video Surveillance service that integrates GIS with Wireless IP Video Camera Surveillance. Grant has a degree in Geographic Information Systems from Ohio University.

Greg Gaston

- Dr. Greg Gaston is a physical geographer with 20 years experience with GIS and Remote Sensing. His MS ('89) and PhD ('93) are from the Geosciences Department of Oregon State University. These degrees in geography came after a BS in Production Agriculture from Wilmington (Ohio) College and a brief (4 year) career as a high school science teacher. He has been an Associate Professor in the Geography Department at the University of North Alabama since the fall of 2002.

Hal Reid

Hal Reid is the senior technical editor for Directions Magazine and a private consultant. He was one of the earliest practitioners of mapping analysis in the retail franchise field and holds the designation of Master of Corporate Real Estate (MCR) from CoreNet Global. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management.

Guest Speaker

Jack Pellicci, Senior Vice President of Intergraph's Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I) Division and General Manager of the Company's Federal Solutions and Military & Intelligence Business Units

Jack Pellicci is senior vice president of Intergraph's Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I) division and general manager of the company's Federal Solutions and Military & Intelligence business units.

After a successful career in the United States Army, where he ascended to the rank of Brigadier General and served as the director of training and commanding general of the Army Personnel Information Systems Command, he joined Oracle Corporation. At Oracle, Pellicci served as group vice president for the Global Public Sector and Business Development and Program Management for the North America Public Sector. He was a strong proponent of Spatial Information Management during his time at Oracle.

Since 1996, Pellicci has served on the Board of Directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Additionally, Pellicci serves on the Board of Directors of the National Defense University Foundation, the USO and is a member of the External Research Advisory Committee for the University of Texas at Dallas, the Council on Excellence in Government, and the National Governors Association's Corporate Fellows Program.

James Murphy

James Murphy is the Geospatial Application Engineers for ALACAD, a solution provider and reseller for Autodesk products. James provides support and training on Autodesk Map 3D to users though out the Southeastern United States. Prior to joining the Alacad Team he was a GIS Technician and Drafting Supervisor for an 80,000 member electrical co-op in Tennessee. James has 10 years experiences as a CAD instructor at a technical college in Clarksville, TN., is retired from the US Army Reserves and a Desert Storm Veteran.

Keynote Speaker

James M. Walker Jr., Director, Alabama Homeland Security

James M. Walker, Jr. was appointed on January 20, 2003, by Governor Bob Riley to serve as Alabama's first Director of Homeland Security.

Director Jim Walker was born on October 5, 1959, at Fort Benning, Georgia. He is the oldest son of a career Army officer father and school teacher mother. His father hails from Tennessee and his mother's family hails from Alabama and Tennessee. Director Walker spent his youth moving from Army base to Army base in the southeastern United States. He attended Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee on an ROTC Scholarship, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. He also holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma, and, in conjunction with an American Political Science Association Fellowship, studied Congress and Foreign Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C.

Director Walker served in the Army from 1981-2001, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. An Infantry officer and Airborne Ranger, he served in both the 25th Infantry Division and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). He has more than seven years experience as an Army Congressional Liaison and Government Affairs Officer.

His additional military assignments included service as aide-de-camp to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, operations briefer to General Colin Powell during Operation Desert Shield, aide to President Ronald Reagan, and congressional fellow and legislative assistant to Congressman John Tanner (D-Tennessee) who, at the time, was a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee.

After retiring from the Army, Director Walker worked in Washington D.C. as a strategic consultant for a Houston-based company. In this capacity, Director Walker's legislative specialties included defense, transportation, and homeland security issues.

Jason Watson

Jason Watson is the GIS Analyst for The Shaw Group onsite at Redstone Arsenal. He is presently under contract to the U.S. Army Garrison's Environmental Division developing and managing The Installation Restoration Programs' GIS. Jason is also a member of the United States Army Reserves with over 13 years of service. He has a BS in Geography from The University of North Alabama and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Systems.

Jeffrey Stephens

Jeffrey Stephens's background includes a BS degree in Natural Resource Management and Engineering from the University of Connecticut and a master's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Currently, he is a PhD student at Alabama A&M University and is researching how Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is used to predict the biophysical characteristics of vegetative communities. Moreover, he is interested in studying forest ecosystems and the efficacy of Lidar to determine forest stand structure and composition.

Jerry McRay

Jerry W. McRay is the Chief Technology Officer of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. He has been an employee of the State of Alabama over 28 years. McRay served four years in the U.S.Navy as a Hospital Corpsman attached to The First Marine Brigade, Fleet Marine Force HMM 262, Search and Rescue (SAR). McRay attended the University of Alabama, John Patterson State Technical College, Sanford University and Faulkner Christian University receiving an AS in Technology degree, BS in Information Technology and MS curriculum in Computer Science and certificates for GIS.

Guest Speaker

Jim Burns, Chief Information Officer, Alabama Department of Finance

Jim Burns is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the State of Alabama providing enterprise information technology services for state government and Alabama citizens. His staff of 180 persons provides voice and data networking, system administration, programming and information technology services for 35,000 employees. His alabama.gov portal provides up-to-date information to citizens as well as over 100 ways to conduct business with the state via the Internet. Previously, with Computer Sciences Corporation, Burns was the Department Director for Information Technology & Communications for Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama serving over 10,000 users. His award-winning team transitioned the operation from a government-run agency to a fully outsourced business model with dramatic improvements in reliability and customer service. Prior to this, Burns led the Enterprise Architecture group for BellSouth/AT&T Corporation, a $100 Billion, Fortune 100 telecommunications corporation. As Vice President, Potomac Systems Engineering, Burns provided technical support for all Alabama clients for this Reston, Virginia based corporation. As an Air Force officer, Burns led groundbreaking development of wargaming software and systems at the Air Force Wargaming Center in Montgomery, Alabama and conducted exercises with allies in South America and Europe. During the Gulf War, Burns provided leadership for solving technology challenges with the information systems on the Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, based in Geilenkirchen, Germany. Burns is a native of the Sand Mountain, Alabama area and received a Master of Science degree in Management/Computer Science from the University of Alabama, Huntsville. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/MIS from the University of Colorado while in the Air Force.

Joel Lawhead

Joel Lawhead is the Program Manager for NVision Solutions Inc., an award-winning geospatial technology integration firm at the NASA Stennis Space Center on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Joel is certified at the professional level in the national Incident Command System (ICS) and consults local Emergency Operations Centers along the Gulf Coast and around the country in emerging best practices and geospatial standards for ICS.

Guest Speaker

Colonel John A. Olshefski, Garrison Commander, Redstone Arsenal, U.S. Army

Colonel John A. Olshefski was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, in July 1980. After a two-year stint as a civilian working for Honeywell, Inc., Phoenix, Arizona, while serving in the Arizona National Guard, he decided to change careers and join the Active Army in August 1982. His duty assignments include: Aide-de-Camp, 200 TAMMC, Zweibruecken, Germany; Shop Officer, B Company, 3d Forward Support Battalion (FSB), 3d Infantry Division (Mechanized), Aschaffenburg, Germany; Battalion Support Operations Officer, S-3, and B Company Commander, 115th FSB, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; Training with Industry, FMC Corporation, San Jose, California; Operations/Training Advisor for the Royal Saudi Land Forces Ordnance Corps, Ordnance Program Division, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Division Materiel Management Officer and Executive Officer, 24th FSB, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Georgia; Logistics Analyst, Special Operations Requirement/Resources Division, Headquarters, United States Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Florida; Commander, 2d FSB and Division G4, 2d Infantry Division, Republic of Korea; Executive Officer for the Sustainment Director Army G4; the Deputy C4 for the Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC), Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. COL Olshefski took command of the United States Army Garrison, Redstone Arsenal in June 2005.

Colonel Olshefski is a graduate of the Signal Officer Basic Course, Ordnance Advanced Course, Combined Arms Services Staff School, Logistics Executive Development Course, Command and General Staff College, Central Michigan (Masters of Science, Administration), and Industrial College of Armed Forces of (Masters Science in National Resource Strategy).

His awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal and the Saudi Arabia and Kuwait Liberation Medals.

COL Olshefski is married to the former Sharon Stuckey of Summerville, South Carolina.

John Russell

John Russell currently serves as the Assistant Location Engineer in the Design Bureau of the Alabama Department of Transportation. He has been a licensed professional surveyor since 1997 and has performed surveying duties for the Department since 1985. He serves as the Height Modernization Project Manager for the Alabama Department of Transportation. The duties assigned to the Department include oversight of the leveling contractors, and implementation of the Continuously Operating Reference Network.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. John Christy, Professor and Director of the Earth System Science Center at the National Space

In November 2000 Gov. Don Siegelman appointed him to be Alabama's State Climatologist. In 1989 Dr. Roy W. Spencer (then a NASA/Marshall scientist and now a Principle Research Scientist at UAH) and Christy developed a global temperature data set from microwave data observed from satellites beginning in 1979. For this achievement, the Spencer-Christy team was awarded NASA's Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 1991. In 1996, they were selected to receive a Special Award by the American Meteorological Society "for developing a global, precise record of earth's temperature from operational polar-orbiting satellites, fundamentally advancing our ability to monitor climate." In January 2002 Christy was inducted as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.

Dr. Christy has served as a Contributor (1992, 1994 and 1996) and Lead Author (2001) for the U.N. reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in which the satellite temperatures were included as a high-quality data set for studying global climate change. He has or is serving on five National Research Council panels or committees and has performed research funded by NASA, NOAA, DOE, DOT and the State of Alabama and has published many articles including studies appearing in Science, Nature, Journal of Climate and The Journal of Geophysical Research. Dr. Christy has provided testimony to several congressional committees.

Dr. Christy received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Illinois (1984, 1987). Prior to this career path he had graduated from the California State University in Fresno (B.A. Mathematics, 1973) and taught Physics and Chemistry as a missionary teacher in Nyeri, Kenya for two years. After earning a Master of Divinity degree from Golden Gate Baptist Seminary (1978) he served four years as a bivocational mission-pastor in Vermillion, South Dakota where he also taught college math. He was featured in the February 2001 issue of Discover magazine in which his diverse background was highlighted.

Dr. Christy has been active in local educational groups. At Grissom High School he served as chairman of the Facilities committee, helping in securing the new Science wing and Gymnasium and was President of the PTSA, Alabama's largest, in 1997-98. He also served on the Huntsville City Schools Strategic Planning Committee and its Finance subpanel. He is a member of the Huntsville City Surface Water Management Committee.

Dr. Christy is married to the former Babs Joslin, a fellow missionary whom he met in Kenya. They have two children, Mrs. Alison Fields, an Applied Math graduate of Auburn University and cost-analyst for TetraTech/FW, and Brian, a Physics/Math graduate of Auburn and now a graduate student at the University of Maryland. Dr. Christy's favorite hobby is gold panning which he developed as a teenager in California, and he also runs, completing races from 2 to 31.1 miles over rugged terrain in the past year."

Johnathan Carter

Mr. Carter is a System Consultant in the Intergraph Security, Government & Infrastructure Division focusing on Homeland Security related products and services. Projects include working at the Warfighters Protection Lab on Redstone Arsenal and at Intergraph's Federal building. Working at the Warfighters Protection Lab Mr. Carter manages the relationship with US ARNORTH and is in charge of the GIS support team for their exercises.

Kecia Pierce

Kecia Pierce is the Industry Manager for Intergraph's Utilities business, and is responsible for gathering input from sales, marketing and services, as well as doing general market research and strategy work, to determine what software solutions are required for Intergraph's Utilities industry business. She has held positions in product management, development, pre-sales, management, and industry consulting during her 17 years with Intergraph. She has a bachelor's degree in computer science.

Guest Speaker

Larry Capps, CEO, U.S. Space & Rocket Center

Larry Donelson

Mr. Donelson is a civil engineer experienced in design, mapping and GIS and software implementation. He has worked extensively with the USACE mapping the Mississippi River (yes, underwater!) and with municipal governments in preparing multi-layered systems to insure environmental compliance utilizing GIS based asset management tools. He has worked in the consulting engineering community in both Alabama and Tennessee, and for seven years has represented Intergraph and worked with clients around the globe.

Lonnie Hearne

For the past ten years Lonnie Hearne has been actively involved in research into integration of advanced technologies into geospatial applications. This has included numerous research efforts exploring the use of remote sensing and 3D geospatial technologies for geospatial feature extraction, urban simulation and transportation planning. Mr. Hearne was one of the founders of SimWright Inc. a Florida firm specializing in the development of remote sensed data feature extraction processes. Mr. Hearne graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a BS in Engineering in 1969.

Guest Speaker

Mayor Loretta Spencer

The Honorable Loretta Spencer
Mayor, City of Huntsville

Loretta P. Spencer was elected to her third term as Mayor of Huntsville on September 14, 2004 after two previous successful terms leading the City of Huntsville. She is the first woman to be elected, and twice re-elected to the position. Her understanding of Huntsville's potential is seen through her emphasis on economic growth and development. For example, Cummings Research Park has expanded to become the second largest research park in the United States. National news media have written about her success in recognizing the importance that the many different entities of Huntsville play in the economy: the military, the space industry, the computer- related industries, the emerging biotech industry and above all, the small businesses that expand into tomorrow's large corporations. Celebrating its bicentennial in 2005, Huntsville continues its history as a leading city. Huntsville is consistently selected by national publications as a premiere location for both business and quality of life. One of the most prestigious recognitions is being ranked in The Green Guide's Top 10 Green Cities in the nation in 2006 and in Forbes magazine's list of top cities for Business and Careers in 2007. Mayor Spencer's civic endeavors have included service on various local boards and agencies, including the Huntsville-Madison County Senior Center; Junior League of Huntsville, United Way, Cummings Research Park; Huntsville Land Trust; City of Huntsville Planning Commission; and the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. The Mayor has also been honored with numerous awards including the Grace Award; Distinguished Service Medal from the Alabama National Guard; North Alabama Tourism Association Peak Award; Huntsville/Madison County Hospitality Association Pineapple Award; Alabama Bureau for Tourism and Travel Government Advocate Award, and many more. A former teacher in the Huntsville City School System, Mayor Spencer received her B. S. in Elementary Education from the University of Alabama.

Luke Marzen

Dr. Luke Marzen's specialty is in Remote Sensing and GIS. He is a physical geographer who has spent much of his career investigating the relationships between human activity and the natural environments using Remote Sensing and GIS. Dr. Marzen has been active in outreach activities and serves as the Co-Director of AlabamaView: a consortium of Alabama universities and agencies working to promote the advancement of geospatial technologies in the state of Alabama.

Mark Doherty

Mark has been employed by Intergraph for the past 19 years in Ottawa and Toronto. Prior to joining Intergraph, Mark was employed by the Surveys and Mapping Branch, Energy, Mines and Resources Canada for 4 years. Mark holds a B.Sc. Eng., specialization Surveying Engineering, from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. In his current role, Mark is responsible for defining the technology architecture and strategic direction for Intergraph's solutions in security, government and infrastructure.

Michael Vanhook

Michael Vanhook is the State GIS Coordinator for the Alabama Geospatial Office, Information Services Division and is a graduate of the University of Alabama, New College with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental, Geographic, Computer and Solar Technology Applications and has a Masters certificate in GIS. He began his work at the University of Alabama, Office of Land Management as a GIS technician and contributed information to the Alabama Geographic Information Council. Then served as the GIS Taskforce chair with the Alabama Association of Regional Councils at South Central Alabama Development Commission, and later was appointed the GIS Coordinator at the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Mike Botts

Dr. Botts is a Principal Research Scientist within the National Space Science and Technology Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). He holds a B.S. in Geology from Auburn University, a M.A. in Planetary Geology and Remote Sensing/Image Processing from Washington University in St. Louis, and a Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Colorado. Dr. Botts is the creator and chief architect of Sensor Model Language (SensorML), an OpenGeospatial Consortium (OGC) standard for describing the measurement and processing of observations from virtually any sensor system.

Mike Burger

Mike Burger is a recent Government hire to the U.S. Army AMRDEC's Warfighter Protection Lab (WPL). There he works to leverage legacy Army products for use in Homeland Defense research, development and experimentation. He earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Auburn University, where he was a member of the Tau Beta Pi and Omega Chi Epsilon engineering honor societies.

Nalishebo Kaunda

Nally Kaunda obtained her BS in Natural Resource Management and a Masters in Geography (GIS) from West Virginia University. She worked for West Virginia Natural Resource Analysis Center, then for West Virginia GIS Technical Center on a USGS base-mapping project. She is currently a GIS Analyst for the City of Huntsville. She designs, manages, and updates some of the city's largest databases e.g sanitary sewer, storm water. Her awards include: GISP, International ESRI Special Achievement in GIS, Tennessee Valley BRAC Mapping Award.

Peter Hannah

Peter Hannah is the Senior GIS Analyst and System Coordinator for the U.S. Army Garrison's Directorate of Public Works. Peter has twelve years experience in multiple facets of the GIS/Mapping industry; from piloting aerial photo missions, to producing countless geospatial products including cadastral and topographic maps, orthophotography, GIS analysis exhibits, and ArcIMS web applications. He's had a major hand in the construction and maintenance of the enterprise GIS that Redstone Arsenal uses today

Richard Truluck, President

Mr. Truluck has over 19 years experience with the US Army Corps of Engineers - Savannah District and eight years experience as a private consultant, seven with Spatial Engineering, Inc. He has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from The Citadel and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Oklahoma State University.

Robert Hicks

Robert L. Hicks is the Branch Chief of the Border Security Branch, North American and Homeland Security Division, Office of Americas at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. The North American and Homeland Security Division serves as NGA's issue manager and information provider for imagery intelligence and geospatial information needed to prepare for, deter, prevent, and respond to domestic terrorism and natural disasters. Mr. Hicks received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1975.

Robin Parrish

Robin served for 25 years in the South African Defense Force. He was trained as a surveyor and photogrammetrist and retired at the rank of Lt Col as the Senior Staff Officer Landward Mapping. While in this post Robin was the project leader responsible for establishing an enterprise geospatial infrastructure across the entire defense force for which he was awarded the Southern Cross Medal. Since 2002 Robin has been the VP for Business Development for eSpatial Inc.

Roger Harwell

Roger Harwell works for Intergraph as product manager of the GeoMedia WebMap products. He has more than 20 years of experience in the mapping and geospatial field, during which time he managed the development of several products as well as the Team GeoMedia program. Roger holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in mathematics and computer science from Lipscomb University.

Roy Interrante

Mr. Interrante has 24 years experience in Facilities Engineering and Management. He has specialized in the development and installation of GIS and Data Integration applications for various customers, such as the Facilities Management Office NASA-MSFC, Navy Public Works Center-San Diego, Planning Department-Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, and Public Works-Fort Bragg. He has a B.S in Civil Engineering and an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering, and is a P.E. in Florida.

Sean Southern

Sean Southern is a Project Manager for 3001, Inc., supporting both governmental and commercial industry clients with Geospatial Data Acquisition and Photogrammetric services. Based in 3001’s Huntsville, AL office, Sean supports 3001’s Civil Works division, focusing on state-wide, regional, and local geospatial solutions. He is a graduate of the University of North Alabama, Florence, with a BS in Professional Geography.

Sharon Shin

Sharon Shin, Federal Geographic Data Committee Secretariat's Metadata Coordinator, serves as co-editor of the North American Profile of ISO 19115 Geospatial Information- Metadata. She is active in the area of metadata implementation at the federal, state, local, Tribal, and academia. Previously Sharon served as metadata coordinator for the U.S.Geological Survey's National Biological Information Infrastructure.

Steve McKinney

Steve McKinney, PhD is the President of Spatial Information & Computing Systems Consultants, LLC (known as SICS Consultants, LLC). Dr. McKinney spent the last 12 years working extensively in the creation of many municipal GIS, environmental management programs, network infrastructure programs, hazard mitigation systems, environmental planning and modeling systems, and various other engineering and information technology projects. Dr. McKinney currently resides in Huntsville, Alabama with his wife, Lee Ann, and son, Alex.

Stuart Harrison

Colonel Stuart Harrison is the Commandant of The School of Geospatial-Intelligence, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. His distinguished career includes service as a commander, assistant professor, and legislative liaison to Congress. Colonel Harrison is a registered Professional Engineer and holds a BS degree from the United States Military Academy, a MS in Environmental Engineering from Penn State, and a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

Tim Barnes

Tim Barnes has an MS (Geography with concentration in Urban Systems Analysis and Planning) from the University of Alabama. He also has a BS (double major of political science and geography) from the University of North Alabama. He is a GISP, and from 2002 to present has served as the GIS Manager for the City of Huntsville. He has worked in the GIS field for 23 years.

Timothy Heinse

Tim Heinse is the Sr. GIS Database Manager for AMTEC Corporation of Huntsville. He works for the U.S. Army Garrison's Environmental Management Division on Redstone Arsenal, developing & managing the GIS for Natural Resources and Environmental Compliance branches. Tim is retired from the U.S. Air Force with over twenty years active duty. He has a BS degree in Social Science & Geography from Troy University and a MS degree in Geography from the University of Alabama.

Tommy Hunt

Tommy Hunt is Professional Engineer (Civil Engineer) with U.S. Army Engineering & Support Center, Huntsville. Tommy is currently the GIS Team Lead within Environmental Branch, Engineering Directorate at Huntsville Center. He has worked for Huntsville Center for the past 19 years as a Cost Engineer and Design Civil Engineer, before becoming the GIS Team Lead in February 2004.

Vic Young

Mr. Young has been the Facilities Management / Mapping Manager for Fisher & Arnold, Inc. since 1995 and is responsible for project development and implementation. He works with a wide range of municipal, county, and industrial clients covering public safety/ emergency management, infrastructure/public works, and utilities. Mr. Young initiated the RAIN (Rescuer/Responder Assistance Information Network) exercise in June that involved 33 damage assessment teams from 18 agencies utilizing mobile devices and internet applications to better manage post disaster emergency response.

Wubishet Tadesse

Dr. Wubishet Tadesse teaches the following undergraduate and graduate courses at Alabama A&M University: Remote Sensing of Environment I and II, Quantitative Approaches to Remote Sensing, Introduction to GIS, Advanced Principles of GIS, and GIS, Spatial Analysis and Modeling. He is also involved in research with main focus on land-use land-cover change detection, modeling, and environmental quality assessment using satellite and aerial remote sensing and GIS techniques within a human ecological theoretical framework.

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