T H U R S D A Y , M A Y 2 6 , 2 0 0 5
LARRY WARNICK
VP, Geographic Services, IMMCO, Inc.
P a n e l
WILLIAM P. "PAT" GEER
President, Geer Services, Inc.
Mr. Geer founded Geer Services, Inc. in 2003 drawing on his experience in telecommunications and extensive knowledge in GIS solutions. The company’s primary focus is web enabled Geographic Information Systems (GIS) using Environmental Systems Research Institute® (ESRI) and Oracle® products. Geer Services also specializes in web development, graphic design, web hosting, and business process management consulting services nationwide.
Prior to Geer Services, Mr. Geer worked with BellSouth. The early part of his career was spent in the Network organization where he held numerous management and leadership positions. He obtained vast experience in work force dispatch management, outside plant construction and maintenance, expense budget administration, UNIX office system support and Outside Plant Records management.
His focus shifted when he became the product manager for development of the Landbase Management module of the Outside Plant Engineering Design System (OPEDS). His project responsibilities included development of the OPEDS landbase management application, Intranet GIS, landbase conversion specifications and landbase conversion/migration for the nine-state BellSouth service area. Mr. Geer implemented the Regional Landbase Administration Center (RLAC) located in Jacksonville, Florida, charged with the internal maintenance and update of the BellSouth Corporate Landbase.
After the successful completion of the project, Mr. Geer assumed responsibility for implementing a corporate system to support the key business activity associated with return on assets. He established and led the organization to provide web enabled asset management and decision support applications for BellSouth Network Operations.
Mr. Geer retired from BellSouth after completing 35 years of service.
RICHARD HAMMOND
Electronic Knowledge Management Team Leader
Federal Facilities Branch, Waste Management Division, Region 4 USEPA
After graduating with a geology degree in 1982, I worked in both the minerals exploration and oil and gas industries as a lab and field geologist. In 1988, I moved to the environmental arena as a research scientist and then as a field geologist for site remediations at large facilities such as Oak Ridge Reservation and Savannah River Site. In 1990, I moved to the EPA where I began as the project manager for the clean up of the Oak Ridge National Lab. Shortly after arriving, I began to dabble in computers and GIS.
In 1997, I founded the Electronic Knowledge Management Team in the Federal Facilities Branch of the Region 4 EPA. Between 1997 and 2003, my team instituted web conferencing and continued to struggle with technical data visualization issues. Over time, my experience indicated that the issues in environmental work were not so much focused on technical knowledge, but rather on the psychological interfaces between technical/regulatory agencies and the public stakeholders that the regulators serve. As a result, in 2003 I returned to school to obtain a masters degree in Organizational Management. I knew the science. I wanted to figure out how to communicate the message.
Currently, I am working a great deal with extensible markup language (xml) and scalable vector graphics (SVG) and I am constantly exploring the issues surrounding visualization and semantics. At the far edge of my work, I am exploring Bayesian Maximum Entropy (BME) models of beliefs to help all stakeholders understand what the consensus Conceptual Site Model is actually saying - not what we believe, but how much we believe it.
STEVEN WARDRUP
GIS Director, City of Alpharetta
I started using GIS technology as an Economist with the State of North Carolina Division of Environmental Management in 1978 for various environmental programs. In 1986 moved to Atlanta, Georgia as a Senior Planner with the Fulton County Department of Planning and Economic Development. Within the first year moved into the position of GIS Manager for Fulton County’s initial efforts into the implementation of GIS technology (ESRI). This implementation included the establishment of ground control, aerial photographic, and creation of digital layers. The initial deployment of the system included the Department of Planning and Community Development and Public Works. This was soon followed by efforts with the Police and Fire Departments.
Following three years as GIS Manager for Fulton County, I moved into the private sector as Project Manager/Account Manager with companies such as Computervision, Unisys Corporation, and Plangraphics. While with Plangraphics in Frankfort, Kentucky worked as a Project Manager/Design Analyst on local government projects in Olathe, Kansas and Waukeshe County, Wisconsin and later with the Utility Group. I returned to Alpharetta, Georgia to work as a Project Manager for CES International, a company specializing in outage management systems of electric utility companies such as Southern Company, Bermuda Electric, and Colorado Springs Electric.
In 1992 started working with the Georgia Department of Transportation as a Transportation Modeler. While serving as a Transportation Modeler developed the transportation models for the Rome and Albany, Georgia Metropolitan Planning Organizations. In January of this year accepted a position as the first GIS Coordinator for the City of Alpharetta charged with the city-wide implementation of ESRI’s SDE technology.