Geospatial Users Forum Speakers
Elie Nasr
GIS Advisor / Program Manager
Electricity and Water Authority
Kingdom of Bahrain
Elie Nasr is currently working as a GIS Advisor and Program Manager at the Electricity and Water Authority in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He is overseeing several IT initiatives associated with the concept of Digital Utility and ensuring that these projects are strategically aligned to lead the business transformation taking place at the Authority. He has extensive project management experience in the deployment of Enterprise GIS / Engineering solutions within Utilities. Mr. Nasr managed several projects in Canada and the Middle East. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering and is PMP certified

Kylie Armstrong
Business Development
Western Australian Land Information Authority
Australia

Kylie Armstrong from Landgate (the Western Australian Land Information Authority) has been developing multinational and cross government systems since the mid 90’s.  She has played a key role in the development of the Shared Land Information Platform (SLIP Enabler), a large cross government SDI built upon the OGC Architectural Framework and standards.  As owner of this system, Kylie has continued to provide a business and collaborative focus to the development of the SLIP Enabler which has lead to a sustainable and extendable model that continues to grow and has become an integral part of the Government and Industry decision making.  A move to a nationally focused role sees Kylie taking on the role of Program Director for the Spatial Infrastructure Program of the Corporate Research Centre for Spatial Information in Australia where the focus will be on enabling an Australian New Zealand Spatial Market Place that is interoperable and will move from just delivering data products to a range of spatial products.  Kylie sees standards and collaboration as being key to the successful delivery of these systems.

Robert Austin
Manager- Enterprise Applications
City of Tampa
United States
Robert F. Austin, Ph.D., GISP, is the Manager of Enterprise Applications Integration for the City of Tampa, Florida.  Before joining municipal government, Dr. Austin worked as a GIS consultant and project manager for 23 years.  He has taught courses at the University of Missouri, Oxford Polytechnic, Virginia Polytechnic and the University of Tampa.  He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a past member of the Board of Directors of the GIS Certification Institute and the 2011 President of the Geospatial Information and Technology Association.  In 2010, he received an appointment by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to the National Geospatial Advisory Committee.

Shafik Jiwani
Executive Vice President for Global Enterprise GIS (EGIS) Business Development
Orion Technology
Canada
Shafik Jiwani, Senior Vice President, GIS , has been with Orion since its inception in 1998 and he is one of the founders of the Company. Shafik brings over twenty years of technical, consulting, and project management experience in Information Technology with emphasis on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to Orion. In the early stages of Orion, he was involved in the full life cycle of software development, working with clients at the project level to determine specific needs for application/database requirements, development of appropriate models, preparation of design, and test specifications. As Senior Vice President of GIS he is still very much involved in business and technical proposal preparation and high level client interaction. Shafik has written and presented over 50 talks, papers, newsletters, articles and seminars. He was invited lecturer at University of Waterloo and University of Qatar. Prior to Orion, Shafik was the head of GIS Section for the Drainage Department of Centre for GIS in Qatar, where he managed a team of 55 members with responsibility for creating and maintaining detailed databases and developing applications. Shafik completed his Bachelor degree with joint Honors in Mathematics and Economics at the University of Waterloo. He has won several awards in the GIS industry, including “Exemplary Systems in Government" award conferred by URISA (Urban & Regional Information Systems Association). Shafik is also involved in various professional associations including Urban Regional Information Systems Association and Municipal Information Systems Association. He also served on URISA Ontario Chapter Board of Directors. Mr. Jiwani currently lives in Richmond Hill, Ontario with his wife Shemin, son Nadeem and daughter Alia. Outside of Orion, Shafik enjoys playing tennis and golf in the summer, skiing in the winter, and traveling with his family around the world.

Ronald J. Boyd
Chief of Police
Los Angeles Port Police Department
United states
Ronald J. Boyd was appointed Chief of the Los Angeles Port Police Department in November 2004. The agency currently employs 230 sworn and civilian, and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011. Exciting projects underway include the nation’s first Maritime Law Enforcement Training Center, a partnership with the State of California and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which will provide standardized training to law enforcement personnel engaged in waterborne activities. The agency is also scheduled to cut the ribbon on a new police headquarters in Spring 2011. Ron has extensive experience in all aspects of tactical response to terrorist activities after training received from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Coast Guard, Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol. While assigned to Los Angeles International Airport, he oversaw the development of tactical operations and formed strong relationships with law enforcement agencies. As a result, he is sought after to give presentations about innovative law enforcement projects and security matters in Asia, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.

Chief Boyd serves on the Executive Board of the International Association of Airport and Seaport Police, The Ray Charles Robinson Education Foundation, and is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and California Narcotics Officers’ Association. He is recipient of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives Achiever’s Award, March 2010.

Simon Black
BSc, FIA, Head of Statistics & Data
Aviva
United Kingdom
Simon Black is a qualified actuary who has worked for Aviva since 1989. He has held a number of senior general insurance roles and became Head of Flood Mapping just after the summer floods of 2007. He has presented on flood related issues at numerous conferences, appeared on television and radio and has been interviewed for the trade and mainstream press. Away from the day job he is a Trustee for the RAC Pension Scheme; Treasurer of a local charity a School Governor; a member of the General Insurance Research Organisation for the Actuarial profession and a keen golfer

Dr. Michael O Sutcliffe
City Manager
eThekwini Municipality
South Africa
Dr. Michael Sutcliffe is presently employed as the City Manager of eThekwini metropolitan municipality (www.durban.gov.za), a city of some 4 million people, where he heads the administration of some 20000 employees with a budget of over R23 billion per annum. He was previously appointed by President Mandela to chair the Municipal Demarcation Board(www.demarcation.org.za), which redrew the boundaries for municipalities. Previously, Dr. Michael Sutcliffe was a Member of Provincial Legislature (KwaZulu-Natal) (1994-1999), Director Public Affairs: University of Durban Westville (1991-1994) and Associate Professor: Town and Regional Planning: University of Natal (1982-1991). He earned an M. Sc. degree from the University of Natal and a PhD degree from Ohio State University. Over the past 30 years, Dr. Sutcliffe has acted as a consultant to a wide range of local and international organizations and continues to serve as a board member of a number of developmental organizations. During this period he has written over 500 articles and reports on a wide range of issues, from demarcation and delimitation issues to urbanization, economic analysis and analyzing political trends. He continues to research local government in South Africa, including demarcation and delimitation issues. He has received a number of awards, most recently receiving a prestigious professional award from the Association of American Geographers. Dr. Sutcliffe has been invited to present papers at conferences in the following countries: Canada, Mexico, UK, Sweden, Turkey, France, Norway, Australia, USA, Tanzania, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Uganda, Nigeria, Mozambique, India, Kenya, Brazil, Zambia and Spain. In addition, he has attended and presented papers at over 200 conferences in southern Africa and South Africa.

Joel Campbell
President
ERDAS
United States
With over 20 years of experience in the geospatial industry, Campbell is a well known and highly regarded speaker, lecturer and trainer throughout the world. Prior to joining ERDAS, Campbell served in a variety of senior positions in sales, business development and product management. Previous employers include GeoEye, Definiens, EarthData and ESRI. Before joining ERDAS, Campbell was the Senior Director of Product Management for GeoEye, where he helped manage the company’s expansion into new commercial markets and supported the launch of products from the GeoEye-1 earth imaging satellite. During more than a decade with ESRI, he held chief leadership and management positions in the U.S. sales operation. Campbell joined ERDAS as the President in 2009.

Uday Kale
Vice President
Corporate IT
Reliance Energy
India
A Mechanical Engineering Graduate from one of India’s premier Engineering Institute VJTI and a Post Graduate Senior Management Program from IIM Calcutta. Overall 28 years of solid, rich, diversified experience of working with Multinational & Blue Chip companies in Electrical, FMCG, Food, IT Consulting to Electrical Utility business. Currently working with one of India’s leading business house Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. as Vice President (IT) catering to Utility, Power Generation, Cement, Metro Rail & Natural Resource Business. Started the career with German MNC in Electrical Equipment manufacturing Siemens in their Switch Gear and Motors Factory. Worked for four years with Siemens in Process Planning & Assembly Line automation Group. From Electrical Manufacturing sector moved to FMCG sector. Have a good long experience of working with a leading American multinational company Johnson & Johnson in their Engineering Dept. as a Chief Engineer & Production Dept. as Production Manager. Switched from Engineering industry to IT domain to work with Indian IT Consulting Company Datamatics as General Manager for ITES, BPO & GIS services managing Business Development .

Matthew Thomas
GIS Lead
Spectra Energy
United States
Matthew Thomas currently serving as a Senior GIS Specialist in Spectra Energy Transmission joined Spectra Energy Transmission (formerly Duke Energy) in 1999. Responsible for the planning, development and implementation of the applications utilized and services provided in the offering of GIS-related services with both internal and external customers. Additionally, responsible for the implementation of business process improvement initiatives relating to GIS applications and services and the execution of day-to-day GIS support activities. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Maine and a degree in Electric Power from Eastern Maine Technical College. He is a Co-Chair of the 2009 GIS for Oil & Gas Conference, Chair of the 2010 GIS for Oil & Gas Conference. He ias also serving as a committee member of GIS for Oil & Gas Conference and President of GITA’s Texas Gulf Coast Chapter.

Janet Anstee
Experimental Scientist
Inland & Coastal Remote Sensing
CSIRO Land & Water, Australia
Janet is an application specialist with considerable experience working in water applications, hyperspectral data, multi-temporal analysis and the integration of remotely sensed data into process models. Her Expertise includes: Application of validated bio-optical models to enable improved discrimination of marine habitats & features, using an inversion algorithm methods that are repeatable, objective, multi-temporally and multi-sensor applicable. Production of validated maps and statistics of change in benthic features around coastal sites, resulting in baseline maps of relative abundance of substrate types and maps of water column depth, CDOM, chlorophyll and TSM concentrations. She holds a BSc from University of Sydney & University of Canberra and Undertaking MSc from University of Canberra.

Dr Saumitra Mukherjee
Professor & Head (Geology & remote sensing)
School of Environmental Sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University
India
Professor (Dr.) Saumitra Mukherjee (born January 20, 1959 at Varanasi and PhD from Banaras Hindu University in 1989) is an Academician and Scientist with a distinguished carrier of more that 25 years in Remote sensing Applications in Geosciences. He has established Remote sensing Applications teaching and research in School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1992 after serving in Central ground Water Board, Government of India (1985-89), and Remote Sensing Applications Center, Uttar Pradesh (1989-92). He has worked and published extensively on Remote sensing applications in Geology, Hydrogeology, Hydrogeochemistry, Earthquake and other Natural Hazard prediction including Snowfall, rainfall and global warming, Landuse change, Landsubsidance, and Sun-Earth-Cosmic connection. He has published 5 books and 86 papers of international standard. He was awarded as Commonwealth Fellow in 2004-2005 to extend his research in United Kingdom, where he was appointed as Visiting Professor in Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Liverpool. He has successfully guided 11 PhD scholars and 9 MPhil Scholars who are now serving as Scientist in Indian Space Research Organization, Space Applications Center, Geological Survey of India, and several Central Universities as faculty members. He promoted the scientific concept of Rainwater harvesting in various Institutes including Jawaharlal Nehru University, Research and Referral Hospital, Indira Gandhi National Open University and other parts of National Capital region, India by integrating the Satellite data with geophysical field data. Successful rainwater harvesting in the Aravali extension of Delhi has slowed the fast depletion of ground water level. Besides terrestrial remote sensing, he is actively pursuing research work in extra terrestrial remote sensing to understand the environmental changes in the earth. He is the founder member of Space Environment Viewing Network (SEVAN) to develop and install Cosmic Ray Detector with Cosmic Ray Division of Armenia. With the support of United Nation and NASA, he has developed the correlation with Space weather and the Environment of the earth. He has successfully completed various projects as Project Director using Remote sensing and GIS data to address the Mineral exploration, Groundwater exploration, Rainwater harvesting, Geomorphological mapping, Seismic microzonation and Agricultural findings. He has used LANDSAT, SPOT, IRS, and RESOURCESAT data to address various Geo-Environmental issues. Besides, he has successfully used the Sun Observatory Heleospheric Observatory Data of NASA to correlate the Cosmic Ray variation with the changes in parameters of geosphere and atmosphere to address the Environment of the earth in a holistic manner. He has served the global scientific community as an active member and convener of various Geospatial themes of European Geosciences Union, American geophysical Union and World Water Forum. He has been appointed as a member of award committee of AGU(USA) for 2010-2012 term.

Jim Crotty
 GIS Manager - Mineral Resource Management
Anglo Platinum
South Africa
I arrived in South Africa in1983 from the Middle East after working in the seismic exploration business & started working in a gold mine as geologist. I then joined the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Co.(JCI) geophysical team in 1985 as a seismic interpreter & worked there for ten years. I returned to geology in 1995, built up the GIS capacity in JCI. until 2000 when the company folded. I ran my own GIS consultancy for six years & then joined Anglo Platinum Limited full time in 2006. I have worked there since then until September last year within the Geology Department, however due to restructuring, I now report into Mineral resource Management (Survey and Systems). I am responsible for GIS Functionality in MRM Survey.

Peter Birk
Chief Technology Officer - Management
EnergyAustralia
Australia
Peter Birk is EnergyAustralia’s Chief Technology Officer and is responsible for leveraging technology to improve business outcomes. This includes developing and implementing EnergyAustralia’s smart grid strategy. Peter has also introduced a number of other non-technology innovations to EnergyAustralia in the areas of demand management and energy efficiency. Peter has more than 20-years experience in a range of commercial and technical roles in the energy sector. Prior to EnergyAustralia, Peter work at the NSW Treasury involved in the restructure and commercialisation of the NSW electricity supply industry.

Ibrahim Abel
GIS Manager
Qtel
Qatar
Ibrahim Ali Abel has more than 20 Years experience in Telecom industry. He has been assigned as a manager for Qtel GIS department. He has been pioneer in engineering the new business needs and requirement for GIS services within Qtel. He also has been leading his team and his department to introduce GIS services to help Qtel in better customer service by removing Non-value added business process using this state of the art technology. Qtel has been many times recipient of Special achievement Award given by ESRI, U.S.A for a very impressive implementation of GIS in their business work flow.

Ir Rozinah Anas
Project Director - MERS 999
Telekom Malaysia
Malaysia
Ir Rozinah Anas has vast experience in the ICT industry. She is the Project Director for MERS 999, Telekom Malaysia. Rozinah began her career as fresh engineer in the Government Telecoms Department which was privatized and known as Telekom Malaysia (TM) today. Her 25 years stint in TM encompasses experience in Network Operations, Planning and Implementation, Product Development and Sales. She has successfully managed and deployed mega projects with TM. She has presented in various conferences and seminars locally and abroad. Her latest challenging task is the improvement of the emergency and disaster management services for the government of Malaysia. Her current program is in setting up a new system throughout the country for all the emergency service providers, conducting training program , awareness and publicity campaign to the public for emergency services. Her aspirations are to see Malaysia becoming the hub of Public Safety within the region. She graduated from Clemson university, USA in Electrical Engineering . Her professional qualifications include certification with M.I.E.M. as a professional engineer and Certified International Project Manager (CIPM) from AAPM, USA. She loves travelling and reading. Amongst her favourite authors are Robert Kiyosaki and Steven Covey.

Dr Richard Williams
Director - Asia-Pacific
Mapping and GIS Division
Trimble
Richard is the Asia-Pacific director for the Mapping and GIS division of Trimble, with responsibility for sales, strategy and business development. Richard has worked in the UK, US and New Zealand in the field of GIS for 30 years, and has been with Trimble for the last 20 years. He has a PhD in Computer Graphics from the University of Cambridge, and has worked in software engineering, product management and marketing prior to his current role. Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive with solutions that are focused on applications requiring position or location.
Mike Nield
Director of Corporate Services
Taranaki Regional Council
New Zealand
Mike Nield was born in England in 1964. After emigrating to New Zealand as a child he was educated at New Plymouth Boy's High School and the University of Waikato (Hamilton, New Zealand). Graduating with a Bachelor of Management Studies (BMS) in accounting, Mike is a Chartered Accountant (CA) and a member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. Mike started his career as an auditor with Audit New Zealand. He is currently employed as the Director-Corporate Services with the Taranaki Regional Council (since March 1997). His responsibilities include the provision of a full range of support services including finance, information technology, human resources, investment management, information management, secretarial services and planning. He is also responsible for the management of the Council's suite of regional gardens. His interests include race-walking, golf and music and he resides with his partner, Julie, in New Plymouth.
Manny Rios
Senior Vice President
P&C Underwriting
USAA
US
Manny oversees a team of professionals who develop insurance policies and coverages to meet the unique needs of USAA membership. Stewards of the association, these professionals help keep USAA financially sound and help members protect their families and property from threats to their personal safety and livelihood. Manny has 24 years of property casualty experience, progressing from financial and regional management positions to developing strategic property underwriting initiatives on a countrywide basis. Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, Manny earned his B.A. degree in Business Administration from Benedictine College and served in the Army National Guard and ROTC.
Ramamurthy Kolluri
Vice President-Networks
Bharti AirTel
India
In his current role, he is responsible for the OSS strategy and deployment for Bharti Airtel services and networks. Significant among the recent programs are transformation from network centric monitoring approach to customer/service centric monitoring, building a Integrated ecosystem framework in service management for Airtel services and unified GIS system rollout covering all lines of business. This system is integrated with the IT stack to deliver CRM, network inventory systems, NOC, etc to end to end business processes for marketing, service provisioning and service assurance. Prior this assignment, he has been working in Bharti Airtel for the last 6 years as CTO for the long distance division. He was responsible for technology selection. planning, deployment and operations for long distance operations. He has over 30 years of experience. Prior to his joining Bharti, he was the working as VP – Enterprise and Broadband Services in Siemens. He has done MTech from IIT Kharagpur in 1979 and BTech from JNTU Hyderabad in 1977.
David Sonnen
President & Founder
Integrated Spatial Solutions
United States
David has been involved in the SIM marketplace for more than 28 years and has been IDC’s senior consultant for spatial information management since 1991. His IDC Spatial Information Management reports are widely regarded as the industry’s most accurate and influential thought leadership and economic information. President and founder of Integrated Spatial Solutions, Inc. in 1991, David's company provides market development and software design to the spatial information management industry. His experiences include the design, implementation, management and marketing of spatial and other large-scale information systems. Before founding ISSI, David held senior positions in both commercial and government organizations, including the chairmanship of the Governor’s Task Force for Geospatial Information in Colorado. David also has extensive experience in design of large distributed database systems.
S Sridhar
President & CEO
NIIT GIS
India
Sridhar is a Mechanical Engineer from University of Madras and has done his Post Graduate in Business Management from IIM Ahmedabad. He brings on the table, rich experience in building businesses across multiple verticals and geographies associated with high-end technologies and solutions, with over 30 years of experience in managing IT, CAD and GIS organizations. He shall supplement the business development by leveraging his extensive experience in handling global business development and delivery operations. Sridhar most recently was a part of the executive team of Larsen & Toubro Ltd., heading the Integrated Engineering Services Business for their Chennai and Bangalore centres as well as the global operations of major vertical practices. Prior to this he has worked with major IT companies like HCL, Silicon Graphics, Autodesk & Magnasoft. Currently he is President and COO of NIIT GIS Ltd. (Esri India).
Arup Ghosh
Chief Technical Officer
North Delhi Power Ltd.
India
Arup Ghosh is a power sector veteran of more than three decades. He has been extensively engaged in all facets of Transmission and Distribution operations, restructuring of the power sector and institutional strengthening of electricity utilities to enable them to cope with regulatory controls. He has worked with electricity utilities in India and Mauritius and has been with North Delhi Power Ltd. (NDPL) since November 2005. Initially as Chief Operating Officer, he had actively supported the CEO in leading NDPL to script a hitherto unmatched reforms of the electricity distribution business at Delhi. Presently as Chief Technical Officer, he supports the CEO on sustainability issues which includes strategy, technology, safety and business development. Prior to joining NDPL, Mr Ghosh was engaged at Central Electricity Board, Mauritius; CESC Ltd., The National Insulated Cable Co. of India Ltd. and Crompton Greaves Ltd., all at Kolkata, India. Mr Ghosh is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. Subsequently he has received formal training in general management at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad (MDP), Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata (EDP) and Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur (EDP). He has also received training in regulatory matters from Institute of Public-Private Partnerships Inc (IP3), Washington D.C.