Barbara Ryan recently retired as Executive Director of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIS). Under Barbara Ryan’s leadership, millions of satellite images were made available to the general public at no charge, allowing scientists, planners, and policy makers to make better-informed decisions on a range of environmental problems. Her advocacy for revamping the 36-year-old Landsat Data Policy (in 2008) resulted in annual economic benefits of $2.1B globally. Barbara’s career began in 1974 at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) where she spent the next 34 years working in seven States and Washington, D.C. From 2008 to 2012, she was Director of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Space Programme, and from 2012 to 2018, Ryan was the Secretariat Director of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in Geneva, Switzerland. In January 2021, Barbara became WGIC's second Executive Director.  WGIC is a global not-for-profit trade association of private-sector companies working in the geospatial and Earth observation ecosystem.  Barbara's interests build on a long career in environmental governance, science and technology, and international collaboration.  She is a strong advocate for open data policies, the integration of Earth observations, and hyper-partnering to ensure that existing and planned resources can be more effectively used to address the significant environmental and social issues facing the world today.

David Holdstock, BA, MS, a geographic information systems (GIS) Professional and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), co-established and incorporated Geographic Technologies Group, Inc. in 1997. David is a GIS practitioner and a leading expert in developing enterprise and sustainable GIS strategic implementation plans for towns, cities, and counties. Over the past 25 years, he has planned, designed, and coordinated the adoption and implementation of GIS technology for over 300 local government organizations. He has published many articles on GIS strategic implementation planning for local government. David has conducted hundreds of workshops, seminars, and discussions on GIS implementation, and has been keynote speaker in numerous events. David has published two books on GIS strategic planning including “Strategic GIS Planning and Management in Local Government”, 2017, and “Smart Geospatial Practices and Applications in Local Government: An Altogether Different Language” 2020. In 1997, David left ITRE to start Geographic Technologies Group. GTG is a leading provider of GIS software and services. The company has been recognized as one of the "100 Most Promising Companies" by Forbes and one of the "500 Fastest Growing Companies" by Inc.

Sophia Garcia is Esri’s Lead Equity and Civic Nonprofits lead. Her work at the Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF), a social justice nonprofit in California’s Central Valley, laid the groundwork for institutionalizing Esri’s Equity and mapping work. At DHF, Sophia worked with community organizations across California to pass legislation for more fair and equitable redistricting codified in AB 849 the Fair Maps Act. Sophia subsequently worked as a consultant with over one-hundred municipalities, including five of California’s 10 largest cities, to implement the Fair Maps Act. Sophia’s GIS career has been focused on participatory community GIS and implementing GIS with an equity lens. She is excited to continue working with users to understand and apply GIS and geospatial thinking to equity issues.

Savita Chaudhary joined the City of Fairfield on October 11, 2021. She has over 18 years of experience in the public sector and recently served as Director of 311 Call Center / IT for City of Berkeley and Chief Information Officer for Vacaville. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Master of Science in Statistics, Delhi University Delhi, India, and a Master of Public Administration, Golden Gate University. Savita belongs to many notable professional organizations such as the International City/County Management Association, Municipal Management Association of Northern California, Municipal Information Systems Association of California, and Metropolitan Information Exchange.

Patrick Baber is the Chief Data Officer at The City of Roswell, Georgia. He spearheaded the overhaul of the city's GIS, creating a nationally recognized municipal GIS Division by implementing data and organizational governance, identifying and centralizing authoritative databases, and developing departmental/divisional GIS tools and applications. Patrick was previously the GIS Manager for the City of Roswell, a Senior Analyst at Team Spatial, a Portfolio Manager with NV5 (formerly Quantum Spatial), a Senior Geospatial Analyst with Photo Science and a GIS Manager with Jacobs. Patrick has a BS in Geography and GIS from the University of Georgia, a GISP from the GSCI, and a PMP from the PMI.