Paul Badr

CP, PLS, PPS, SP, President

Paul Badr, CP, PLS, PPS, SP is the President of GPI Geospatial, Inc. and has over 32 years of experience working in remote sensing and related fields. With over 95 professionals in multiple offices and states, he oversees the entire branch and is responsible for implementing GPI’s Strategic Objectives. These objectives include employee satisfaction, delivering a quality product, satisfying clients, being financially strong, managing risk, goals oriented management, and continued growth.

Paul holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering Technology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is an ASPRS Certified Photogrammetrist and a Professional Land Surveyor in NC, SC, and VA. He enjoys spending time with his daughters, walking, cooking, and playing tennis.  

Steve Betts

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Steve Betts is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Merrick & Company. Prior to joining Merrick, Steve served as Controller, VP Finance, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer at other companies ranging in size from small start-ups to multi-billion-dollar global firms, including CH2M Hill, The Shaw Group, CoBank, and MDC Holdings. Steve currently serves on the Board of Directors for Farm Credit of Southern Colorado where he is also Audit Committee Chair, and on the Board of Advisors for Phiston Technologies, Inc. Steve started his career in public accounting with Price Waterhouse and is a licensed CPA in Colorado.

Carter E. Boardman

Vice President - Contracts and Risk Management

Carter has over 43 years of contract/subcontract administration experience on a wide range of engineering, geomatics and construction projects.  He has been in risk management for the last 24 years.Carter’s work experience includes 20 years for Morrison Knudsen Corporation on major construction, construction management and environmental projects throughout the United States. Carter also worked for Bateman Engineering Inc. for 4 years on domestic and foreign mineral and oil & gas projects. Carter has been with Merrick for the past 19 years and oversees client contracts, professional service subcontracts, risk management and, serves as Merrick’s small business liaison officer. Carter also serves on several board positions at Merrick. One pertinent to this presentation, Carter is the Vice Chair and Secretary of the Enterprise Risk Management Committee. Carter is the past President and Board of Director of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Rocky Mountain Chapter.  Carter serves on the RIMS Society Member Chapter Engagement Committee. Carter is an avid fly fisherman and sporting clays enthusiast.

Chris Brunhoeber

CFO

Chris Brunhoeber serves as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Optimal GEO.  Chris has extensive experience in finance, administration, mergers and acquisitions, and accounting in diverse industries, including government contracting, telecommunications and electronics manufacturing services. Prior to joining Optimal GEO, Chris served as CFO of Kord Technologies and has also held senior financial and operation management roles at Earthwinds LLC, InfoPro, Digital Fusion, ADTRAN and SCI.  Chris is a certified public accountant and holds a master’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama.

Dana Brown

Sales Director

Dana directs & manages Phase One cameras sales for multiple channels; OEM, Integrators & resellers including Business Development in Key Market Segments (Utility, Transportation, Federal & Agriculture). 
Dana uses his Business Management education from Arizona State University & 25 years of sales experience managing national marketing/sales programs to capitalize on opportunities that match current Phase One technology with other industry leading edge technology to build a better solution that enrich people’s lives.
Today is an everchanging platform of technology enhancing people’s lives & Dana’s experience supports his customers in navigating the correct aerial solution for their project.

Scot Ferrell

FBCI, CBCP, Managing Director

Scot Ferrell is a managing director within Marsh Advisory and is the U.S. Western Geographic Sales Leader for Consulting Solutions.   Based in San Francisco, Scot leverages his consulting experiences and industry knowledge to strategically help organizations address risks and focus on solutions that reduce total cost of risk and uninsurable risks.  Scot has 30 years of business related experience in multiple leadership and consulting roles including, risk management, internal audit, supply chain, business continuity planning, finance, crisis management and disaster recovery.  Scot currently serves on the Marsh COVID-19 task force and has assisted over 100 clients in improvement of their COVID-19 response plans.

During Scot’s 25 year consulting career, he has managed and assisted over 600 organizations in the development of business continuity programs.  Based on those experiences, Scot is a frequent speaker at conferences and business forums and has presented on the topic of risk management and business continuity at over 70 events. 

Girish Joshi

Director, Americas

An engineer by training, a marketer at heart, Girish is a growth leader who loves to bridge the gap between challenges and solutions. His experience spans 3 continents, and all aspects of data and media, but his real passion is using data to help bring viable solutions to the fore. He is passionate about everything related to automobiles and dogs, and splits his time between US and India.

David Kent

CPA

David is a licensed CPA with experience in automating accounting systems, customized management report generation, data collection and analysis, financial analysis and presentation, billing and collection process improvement, financial management, human resource administration, contract evaluation, and contract negotiation. He is frequently called upon to participate or lead strategic and operational initiatives. His broad knowledge base and depth of experience allow him to successfully manage complex assignments that require a comprehensive range of skill sets. David has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accountancy from Western Michigan University.

Chris Mannix

Senior Proposal Manager

Chris Mannix is a Senior Proposal Manager at Woolpert with 30+ years of experience preparing proposals for state and federal DoD and non-DoD customers, including numerous US Army COE Districts, the USAF, USGS, NOAA and others. She has been recognized for contributions and work on large, multifaceted proposals for the geospatial sector and has helped secure awards for multi-year and IDIQ contracts summing to millions of dollars in business annually. In this role, she collaborates on priority corporate pursuits, assists in resolving complex technical, strategic, and business-related issues, develops effective win strategies and themes, and trains and mentors proposal staff.

Brian Raber

GISP, GLS

Brian has been with Merrick & Company for almost 30 years, and was a Vice President for 20 years. During his years at Merrick, Brian’s geomatics teams strategically grew in domestic and international revenue. Brian has Geography and cartography degrees from West Virginia University and the University of Idaho.

Brian has been certified by the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS), Urban and Regional Information Association (URISA), and held a geospatial surveyor license in the state of South Carolina.

Merrick’s thought leadership has been recognized by many organizations, including the MAPPS Project of the Year, ACEC Excellence Awards, DigitalGlobe Latin American Innovator of the Year, State of Colorado Exporter of the Year, and Geo Project of the Year by the LATAM Geospatial Forum.

Brian also gives back to his community and geospatial profession. He is engaged in geospatial political advocacy as the current MAPPS Past President, mentors’ teenage students at his Catholic church, and is a Director on the West Virginia University Visiting Industry Committee and the non-profit World Trade Center Denver. During his career, Brian delivered 98 conference presentations, and published 33 professional papers.

Richard Serby

President

Founder/Owner of GeoSearch, Inc. providing recruitment and contract staffing services to the geospatial industry. Member of K-12, Community College, and national committee\'s for the purpose of assisting in the development of educational programming which create internship and career opportunities for students.

Specialties: Personnel recruitment, placement, contract staffing, educational program planning.

Mr. Serby is frequently engaged in CEO, COO, CTO and other executive level recruitment and placement projects.

Jessica Touchard

VP of Recruiting & Sales

For over 20 years Jessica has worked to develop her large network of geospatial professionals and organizations in order to find the best talent matches for her clients. She helps companies of all sizes hire top talent to include: Technical, Management, Sales and Executives. Search specialties include finding geospatial talent with skills in GIS, Surveying, Remote Sensing, Data processing, Application/software development, Business Development / Sales Professionals and more.

Carl Whiting

Principal, Owner

Carl Whiting is a Business Continuity Management (BCM) Professional with 19 years experience in Emergency Response, Crisis Management, IT Disaster Recovery, Business Recovery and related fields.

He is the principal and owner of Whiting Risk Consulting, a company he founded in 2012.  Prior to that he worked at Marsh & McLennan and Ernst & Young.

Carl has delivered BCM solutions to more than 50 organizations in a variety of industries including Technology, Consumer Products, Financial Services, Retail, Bio-Pharmaceutical, and Manufacturing.

Carl has a BS in Management Information Systems from Brigham Young University and is a Certified Business Continuity Planner (CBCP) and a Member of the Business Continuity Institute (MBCI).