The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) has announced that OGC CEO, Dr. Nadine Alameh, has been appointed to the Board of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Private Sector Network (PSN). The UN-GGIM PSN was established in 2016 to help the private sector better work with the UN Member States to achieve global geospatial initiatives. The PSN facilitates an ongoing dialogue for collaboration between and amongst members of UN-GGIM and participants of the PSN to develop, build, and extend the world’s capacity to benefit from geospatial information by enabling countries to build capacity in geospatial information, technologies, and services. Recognizing the expertise of the private sector, the PSN creates opportunities for this expertise to assist the UN-GGIM in developing policies, processes, practices, capacities, and recommendations for geospatial information infrastructure at national, regional, and global levels.
UN-GGIM PSN Chair, and Founder of WGIC, Sanjay Kumar, commented “The UN-GGIM PSN is excited to welcome Nadine Alameh to the Board. Nadine’s vast knowledge, experience, and highly professional commitment towards the geospatial profession and community will be instrumental in serving and shaping PSN and its role in the UN-GGIM Process. Standards are an essential component of global geospatial information management, and the private sector plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of standards.” Participation in the UN-GGIM PSN is free and open globally to all private sector organizations and related associations, enabling such entities to contribute to and expand the global policy capabilities that develop the tools and services to enable geospatial information mainstreamed within and across countries.
Prashant Shukle (WGIC) and Patty Mims (Esri) in OGC Board of Directors
Prashant Shukle is the Senior Advisor, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) for WGIC. He is also the Chief Operating Officer of KorrAI, an advanced geospatial artificial intelligence company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He also serves as a strategic advisor to Space Strategies Consulting Ltd., an Ottawa-based think tank specializing in earth observation and space strategies, and the World Geospatial Industry Council, advising on public-private partnerships while acting as the editor of the WGIC’s Policy Watch publication. Prashant also sits on the Board of Directors of PLACE, a non-profit data trust specializing in hyperlocal mapping data in the public interest. He previously served as the Director-General of the Canada Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, a passionate advocate for the earth observation and geospatial industry. Among his many roles, he managed Canada’s only geospatial data standards program, GeoConnections. In 2018, Prashant was awarded the OGC Lifetime Achievement Award to contribute to the global geospatial standards community.
Patty Mims is the Director of Global National Government at Esri. In this role, Patty oversees all Esri’s work across the U.S. Federal Government, including Intelligence, Defense, Public Safety, & Federal Civilian; Non-Profit Programs globally; and international support to National Government organizations around the world. Patty also currently serves on the Board of Directors for US Geospatial-Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) and is the Chairperson for the Board of Advisors for the College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech. Patty has spent her twenty-five-year career in the GIS industry supporting the missions of defense, intel, homeland security, federal and international customers. Patty is based in Virginia, USA.
“Technology-enabled global location services offer the opportunity for us to enable solutions to improve the effectiveness and security of our global village,” commented OGC Chair Jeffrey Harris. “The addition to our Board of these talented and respected geospatial community leaders will add great value. Their diverse sets of experiences will inform the strategy of the Consortium to help instill innovation across people and devices to speed delivery, discovery, and decision-making.”
Current OGC Board of Directors
The three new members of the OGC Board of Directors join existing board members: Jeff Harris – Chairman of the OGC Board of Directors, Consultant to industry, and the US Government. Nadine Alameh – CEO at OGC. Bart De Lathouwer – President at OGC. John Fratamico – Chief Technology Officer (Emeritus) at Leidos. Chris Holmes – Open Fellow & VP Product/Strategy at Planet. Sanjay Kumar – CEO at Geospatial Media and Communications. Kumar Navulur – Senior Director of Global Strategic Programs at DigitalGlobe. Ed Parsons – Geospatial Technology Evangelist at Google. Faraz Ravi – Fellow & Director, OEM Partnerships, Reality Modeling at Bentley. Velu Sinha – Partner at Bain & Company. Eric Souléres – SVP Head of Engineering Operations & Quality Communication, Intelligence, and Security at Airbus Defence and Space. Jantien Stoter – Professor – TU Delft. Frank Suykens – CTO Platforms at Hexagon Geospatial. Rob van de Velde – Director at Geonovum. Steven Witt – CEO and Founder Anno.AI. Jen Ziemke – Associate Professor of International Relations at John Carroll University.