As the overall head of the combined Geography, Hydrography, Oceanography and Meterology departments in France called BGHOM, Colonel Arnaudis responsible for providing information to defense staff on environmental change.His work involves him in the armament procurement process at the highest level sand he is the designated representative for the French MoD in international bodies and national organisations in the domains of geography, oceanography and meterology.

Glyn Arthur is the Sales Director of Luciad based at the head office in Leuven Belgium.
Glyn has spent the last twenty years in varying aspects of the defence industry and has extensive experience in military pilot training and air traffic control.  He is currently studying for an MBA in his spare time.
Glyn’s career has seen him live in the UK, Middle East, Africa and Europe but he now resides in Belgium with his wife and two children.

For two years, Ross Bailey has led Hewlett-Packard’s Defence Intelligence and ISR campaign, which seeks to enable a single intelligence enterprise and now encompasses big data analytics.

He joined HP following a Royal Air Force career in which he became recognised as an innovative and influential leader in the fields of intelligence and ISR in the air and joint domains. Starting out as an aircraft engineer, he then spent over 20 years as an imagery analyst and intelligence officer, with much of the 1990s deployed in support of Balkan and Iraq air policing. Notable operational tours included: CENTCOM immediately after 9/11 as MA to the UK commander; Chief Intel Chief to the UK commander for the 2003 Iraq Campaign; UK Chief Intel for the Deputy Commander ISAF in Kabul.
In 2005, Ross led the development of the Joint ISTAR Concept, which had the temerity to suggest a pan-DLOD approach to the ISTAR ‘big-data’ challenge and which materialized as Project SOLOMON. His commands included Tactical Imagery-Intelligence Wing, the combined Station Commander RAF Digby and Commander Joint Service Signals Organisation and the Air Warfare Centre, as acting Commandant throughout the 2011 Libyan campaign.

Lt Col Blunt has responsibility for 426 soldiers who provide the deployable geospatial support capability to Defence. Held in 4 Squadrons (3regular and 1 reserve), Lt Colonel Blunt is responsible for their force preparation, generation for operations, sustainment whilst deployed and recovery. In addition he has responsibility to support all other Royal Engineer(Geographic) soldiers and their equipment across Defence.

Alister has been a software engineering and product management professional for over 20 years with varied experience in systems design, development, technical leadership & alliances. He joined IBM in 2011 through the acquisition of i2, the makers of Analyst's Notebook, where he served law enforcement, military and intelligence customers for more than 10 years. Alister's currently active areas of research include Social Network Analysis, Human Driven Visual Analysis and Applied GPU Computing.

Stewart Bruce is the GIS Program Coordinator, Assistant Director of the Center for Environment and Society, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Washington College. In addition to teaching, heal so manages numerous funded projects spanning the gamut from crime mapping and analysis to youth technology training in GIS. He is the Project Director for the Maryland Crime Mapping and Analysis Program (CMAP), the Maryland Highway Safety Office Impaired Driving Reduction Program, and the Maryland Vehicle Theft Prevention Council leading a team of eleven crime analysts supported by numerous student interns. Projects for CMAP include analysis on demand services to law enforcement throughout Maryland and managing the Maryland Offender Management System and the Maryland Intelligence Analysis Platform. Washington College is also an approved technical assistance provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance National Training and Technical Assistance Center. Stew is also developing an early stage technology spinoff company called Pandion5D that will focus on use of virtual worlds including active shooter training scenarios in local schools. Previously he worked as Senior Extension Associate at Penn State University in the Cooperative Extension Geospatial Technology Program. Prior to working at PennState, he established a regional GIS Department at Mifflin County, PA. Stewarthas a Master’s of Science in Geography from Penn State University and a Bachelors of Arts in Geography from California State University, Long Beach.

Colonel (Retd) Mark Burrows joined the Royal Engineers(RE) in 1980 after completing a degree in Chemical Engineering. There then followed a number of appointments in both Germany and Northern Ireland but then an opportunity arose to serve with the Defense Mapping and Agency and Hydrographic and Topographic Centre in Maryland USA. This eventually led him to undertake further survey training and develop into a Geo Int specialist. He then attended the Royal Naval Staff College and was assigned a number of subsequent appointments in the UK MOD and SHAPE,mainly working in operations and ISR, often working closely with what was NIMA and now the NGA. On his last appointment, as the professional head of RE(Geo), he was instrumental in helping to set up the new Joint Forces Intelligence Group and brining the Geo community into Joint Forces Wyton. He now works for the Science, Technology and Facilities Council at Harwellin Oxfordshire within business innovation directorate. The main objective is to develop the700 acre Harwell Campus with new buildings and ‘hi-tech’ companies, as well as helping to set up and develop small and medium enterprises – some of which are in the ‘downstream space’ sector, exploiting data derived from space based platforms.

Colonel Gregory Burt joined the Canadian Forces in 1980 and received his commission from the Collège Militaire Royal of Saint-Jean in 1985.
 
His first operational tour was with the 2Battalion Royal 22e Régiment in 1985 where he served as platoon commander and duty officer in Cyprus. In the summer of 1987, he was posted to 1st Battalion Royal 22e Régiment at Lahr, Federal Republic of Germany. During his time there, he was employed as platoon commander and subsequently commander of there connaissance platoon. In July 1992, he was posted to the Canadian Airborne Regiment, where he served as Second-in-Command 1 Commando in Somalia. Upon his return to Canada, he served as the Regimental Adjutant and then Officer Commanding (OC) combat support company of the Regiment. In March 1995, he was posted to 2 Battalion Royal 22e Régiment. There, he served as OC Combat Support Company in the former Yugoslavia, OC C Company, and OC of Service Support Company. From 28 June 2001 to 23 July 2004, Colonel Burt served as Commanding Officer of the Land Force Quebec Area Training Centre. From March to October2009 he commanded the Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) in Afghanistan.

His staff positions include Adjutant in 1990and the first standards officer in 1991 for the Royal 22e Régiment Battle School. In 1998, he joined the British 3 (UK) Division Headquarters in Bosnia as SO2 G3 Plans with MND (SW). Upon returning to the UK, he served as SO2 G3Operations and Exercise Planning. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in July 2000, and was posted to Kingston, Ontario, to the office of Director Land Strategic Concepts. In August 2004, Colonel Burt was posted to NDHQ and assumed the leadership of the Performance Management Core Action Team as DDM 4. In January of 2006, he was promoted Colonel and assumed the post of Director Defence Strategy Management. On 13July 2007, Colonel Burt assumed the position of Chief of Staff of Land Force Québec Area / Joint Task Force (East). Concurrently starting in 29 April 2006 he also served as the Director of Infantry until September 2008. Upon his return from Afghanistan in October 2009 he was assigned to the position of Director Future Security Analysis and Director-General Partnerships and Emerging Issues. On 6 June 2011 he was posted to CDI to the position of Director-General Intelligence Capabilities within the Chief Defence Intelligence until 30 Aug 2013.
 
Colonel Burt completed professional development courses in 1989 at Staff School Toronto and, in the fall of 1992,at the Land Forces Command and Staff College Kingston. In 1997-8 he completed the inaugural course of the Joint Services Command and Staff College Bracknell, England. In March 2011 he completed the Joint and Combined Warfare Course at Joint Forces Staff College Norfolk VA. He has a Bachelor's degree from CMR in Business Administration, and a Master of Arts in Defence Studies from King's College London. He also holds a Master's degree in public administration from the École nationale d'Administration publique de Québec (Quebec National Public Administration School).

On 18 Sept 2013 Colonel Burt was appointed as the 1ST Commander of the Canadian Forces Intelligence Group (CF INT GP).

Former Head of Applications at the Met Office Mr Carne is now a key part of the Office of the CIO ensuring the digital vision for the enterprise identifies the opportunities for differentiating capabilities and solutions, working with business areas to develop new business models by providing input and guidance on internal and external technical opportunities.

Richard takes the lead on engagement with Government, particularly BIS and GDS influencing strategy and ensuring the“digital by Default” agenda is achieved. The role also involves taking the lead on managing key digital supplier, partner and customer relationships to both ensure the position of the Met Office as a global leader is secure and maintain instability to meet the business demands in a changing digital environment.

Nigel Chandler joined Airbus Defence and Space following 27 years’ service as a Warfare Officer in the Royal Navy.   His naval career has been predominantly sea based and he has enjoyed every executive position at sea including frigate command.  A graduate of the Advanced Command and Staff Course and a C4ISR specialist, he spent over 2 years as the MoD desk officer responsible for UK military Satellite Communications.  He now leads Business Development activity for the Airbus Defence & Space maritime portfolio in the UK and Northern Europe, drawing together a broad range of capabilities for the maritime user from secure networked communications to manned, unmanned and space based ISR.

Kuo-Yu slayer Chuang is CEO of Geo Things, the spin-off project for a non-for-profit foundation that is currently under incubation in Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan. He is working on Location-based services (LBS),Disaster Management, Internet of Things (IoT) and very active in Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) for Open GeoSMS, Sensor Web Enablement (SWE), andSWE4IoT standard. He is also the delegate of Open Geospatial Consortium toITU-T, currently works with ITU-T SG11 on Q.ProGeoSMS. He is also one of the trusted developers of Ushahidi and involves a lot in this open community.

In his present position Mr. Chudoba manages The Head Quarters Intelligence Divisions and provides professional intelligence management and policy support to assist the Director of Intelligence in the conduct of Marine Corps Intelligence activities within the Marine Corps, Defense, and National Intelligence Communities. While assigned to the Deputy Directorate for Crisis Operations (J2) at The Pentagon, he served as the Operations Officer for the National Intelligence Support Team.

Lt Col Cockwell leads a team of around 20 civil servants, military personnel and government scientists charged with applying science and technology to improve the information and intelligence support that Joint Forces Intelligence Group provides to UK Defence, wider Government, and Allies. The CII team has in-house expertise in many aspects of geospatial intelligence, remote sensing, and multi-source intelligence fusion but is keen to harness innovative ideas in these fields wherever they can add value to JFIG, regardless of where the idea came from.

Former Platoon Sergeant for the US Marine Corps Ben Conklin currently manages the Defense Solutions team working with the wider Esri community to ensure the right technology is built for military forces and the national intel community. Previously at Esri Ben served as Release Manager for Defense Solutions and a Product Engineer.

Craig Cowan was educated at Campbell College, Belfast and the Royal Military Academy, Sand hurst before being commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1984. He served as a combat engineer and diving supervisor in Germany, Canada and UK for the next 8 years. In 1992 he graduated from the Army Survey Course, Royal School of Military Survey and joined 512 Specialist Team Royal Engineers (STRE) serving in the United States, the Republic of Maldives, and Zimbabwe. He then served: in Germany(and Bosnia) with Headquarters 1 (UK) Armoured Division; in UK with 42 Engineer Regiment; as a Squadron Commander at the Joint Air Reconnaissance and Intelligence Centre (JARIC); in the Directorate of Military Operations in UKMOD. He served as Chief Geographic Officer, Joint Force Command, Naples and as the Geospatial lead in the Defence Intelligence Staff (MOD, Whitehall) before taking up a post with the Defence Intelligence Liaison Staff North America in Washington DC in April 2008. During this tour he served as a UK liaison officer to NGA and completed a tour in Afghanistan before leaving the Army as a Lt Col in October 2011 and joining Exelis VIS in a Business Development role focused on Defence and Security.

Kari J. Craun is the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, National Geospatial Technical Operations Center (NGTOC). This Center performs a wide range of functions in support of maintaining a seamless, current, nationally consistent coverage of base geospatial data for the United States, including development of digital and graphic products such as U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps. In addition, the Center manages several broadly-scoped contract mechanisms for acquisition of geospatial products and services through the commercial sector.

Ms. Craun is a Past-President of the American Society for Photo grammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and the Cartography and Geographic Information Society. She received a B.S.degree in Geology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1984 and an M.S. degree in Photo grammetry from Purdue University in 1987. She is currently pursing a Master of Science degree in Geospatial Information Science through an on-line program at Northwest Missouri State University.

As Co-Founder of a relatively young business Andrzej is focusing on developing risk frameworks,methodology, and event ontology for specific industry verticals to product OSINT/SOCMINT. Balancing his time between researching new systems for information retreival and prototyping technology systems and working with clients to understand targets and processes to design solutions that build capability together Andrzej is bringing the benefits of Cytora’s unique offering to a greater audience.

A former British Army officer with over 30 years of experience in military engineering and geospatial technology including counter-terrorism activities in Northern Ireland, maneuver warfare in West Germany, and geospatial support in the NATO Corps headquarters Mr Day is highly qualified to contribute to some of the most high-level discussions at DGI in 2015.

Since joining Esri he has been advising the US Defense and Intelligence Community on how commercial GIS technologies and solutions translate to defense and intelligence systems. Mr. Day led Esri's activities with the Commercial Joint Mapping Toolkit, to provide geospatial tools for USC2I programs. Now a U.S. citizen, Mr. Day is Esri’s Director for National Security Business Development, managing relationships with Esri’s global defense and intelligence customers.

Sigmund joined the Norwegian Army in 1980 and served until 1997. In the Norwegian Army he graduated from the Military Academy as well as the Norwegian Command & Staff College. When he retired from the army Sigmund was heading the ISTAR section at the Norwegian School of Cavalry. Most of his military career was related to tactical Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. After retiring from the army Sigmund held several positions in Thales and Geodata (the Norwegian ESRI-distributor) until 2010 when he moved to Tromsø in northern Norway where he now holds the position as International Sales Manager in Kongsberg Satellite Services.

Prior to joining Textron Systems Dolan was the operations director for General Dynamics-AIS Geospatial Intelligence Systems. Over his 31year career, he has held leadership positions of significant operational,business development and program management responsibility within several organizations supporting the geospatial intelligence community. Dolan is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a naval intelligence officer in a variety of operational intelligence assignments.

Professor J.A. Dowdeswell has been Professor of Physical Geography and Director of the Scott Polar Research Institute in the University of Cambridge since 2002. He is also Brian Buckley Fellow in Polar Science at Jesus College,Cambridge.

Julian graduated from the University of Cambridge with first classhonours and studied for a Masters Degree in the University of Colorado before returning to Cambridge for his doctorate. Julian has research interests in glaciologyand glacial geology,working on the form and flow of glaciers and ice caps andtheir response to climate change, and the links between former ice sheets andthe marine-geological record, using a variety of satellite, airborne and shipborne geophysical instruments. He has worked in many parts of the Arctic(including the Canadian North, Greenland, Iceland, Svalbard and the RussianArctic islands, together with the Norwegian-Greenland Sea, the Barents Sea andBaffin Bay), and also in Antarctica, in a series of field research projectsover the past 30 years. He has written over 250 scientific papers and eightbooks.

Julian was awarded the Polar Medal by Her Majesty the Queen for 'outstanding contributions to glacier geophysics' and has also received the Founder's Gold Medal from the Royal Geographical Society(2008). In 2011 he was awarded the Louis Agassiz Medal by the European Geosciences Union for outstanding contributions to the study of polar ice massesand to the understanding of the processes and patterns of sedimentation inglacier-influenced marine environments’. In 2014 he was awarded the IASC Medalof the International Arctic Science Committee.

Simon Doyle is Hewlett-Packard’s Solution Principal for the Analytics & Data Management across HM Government. Simon’s focus is on the use of data and technology to solve business and operational problems in the defence and intelligence domains. Of particular relevance to the DGI2015 community, Simon holds an MSc in Geographic and Geodetic Information Systems and Research Fellowship (UCL), he is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society and Chartered Geographer (and Assessor).  He has held senior technical and consulting roles within the defense and intelligence arena for Lockheed-Martin, IBM and PwC.  Prior to working in the private sector, Simon led a range of complex analytics programs which covered business intelligence, data fusion, master data management and geographic information. 

Jason has worked as a Senior Intelligence Analyst with over 14 years of experience with the military, Special Operations Forces (SOF), and intelligence communities. Currently, he is the Sales Engineer for DigitalGlobe’s analytic services after completing a 3 year tour as the Senior Manager / Team Lead for the Special Operations Command Pacific -Pattern Analysis Section. Mr. Epperhart has 8 years of experience managing small analytic teams, providing in-depth analytic support for hundreds of highly effective and insightful products to both Continental United States (CONUS) based policy makers and forward deployed war fighters.  He was recognized as one of the best in his field by the Commander of USSOCOM and has deployed five times to multiple locations within four separate Combatant Command’s Areas of responsibility, all of these with USSOCOM SOF elements. Before joining the SOF community he worked for two years at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) as the Team Lead for the Horn of Africa Section, and was a part of the Senior Briefing team at FBI headquarters in Washington DC. Mr. Epperhart served as an Intelligence Analyst for the U.S. Army and participated in one tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Mr. Epperhart’s dedication to the mission and service has been recognized by the Deputy Commanding General of US Transportation Command, the Commander of US Special Operations Command, and the Commander of Special Operations Command Pacific.

Richard is responsible for designing open-source intelligence (OSINT) solutions for use by defence, intelligence and law enforcement clients, with a particular focus on terrorism and violent extremism.

He was previously the founder and Director of Scanner Associates, a counter-extremism knowledge consultancy. He specialized in the study of violent extremism, specifically violent extremist ideology,extremist strategic communication and activism and the use of strategic communication to counter violent extremism.

Richard continues to work with a range of public sector organizations, both foreign and domestic, to improve their understanding violent extremist ideology and activism, specifically that of radical Islamist and Islamist extremist movements and the narratives and methods used by extremists to radicalise and mobilize an audience.

Jim is the Director of the Geospatial Intelligence Directorate (GID), Marine Corps Intelligence Activity (MCIA) located in Quantico, VA. He manages a staff of 100 professionals providing GEOINT support to the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps, Operational Marine Forces,and the Intelligence Community. Jim provides strategic direction, technical mentorship, resource management, and is responsible for fostering collaborative relationships within the international GEOINT community. He is currently providing oversight of geospatial reach back for Marine Corps operations in Afghanistan.

Richard Hurley is responsible for the analysis and interpretation of data from the IHS Maritime global terrestrial and satellite AIS network, which monitors movement of over 110,000 vessels daily. Richard joined IHS Maritime, then known as FISYS, in 1991 after serving in the Royal Navy as a Seaman Officer and then subsequently taking a degree in Physics and Electronics. He specialises in the exploration of data from the AIS network in combination with other IHS Maritime databases.

Daniel L. Jablonsky is DigitalGlobe’s Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. Prior to joining DigitalGlobe, from 2011 to March 2012, Mr. Jablonsky was a shareholder at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP, a law firm, where he practiced corporate and securities law. From 2007 to 2011, Mr. Jablonsky practiced in-house at Flextronics International Ltd. holding roles as Interim General Counsel, Senior Corporate Counsel, Securities and Mergers & Acquisitions.  

Prior to Flextronics, Mr. Jablonsky was a lawyer at UBS; managed insider trading and financial fraud cases in the Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; and practiced corporate and securities law with O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Southern California. Before his legal career, Mr. Jablonsky served as an officer and nuclear engineer in the United States Navy.   Mr. Jablonsky holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Naval Academy where he was a Secretary of the Navy distinguished graduate, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Washington School of Law.

Dr. Jeffries is an Arctic Science Advisor & Program Officer for Arctic and Global Prediction in the Ocean Battle space Sensing Department, Office of Naval Research (ONR) in Arlington, VA.  He joined ONR in March 2014 after 28.5 years of service at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF),where he was a Research Professor of Geophysics. Working for the Federal Government is not a new experience for Dr. Jeffries. Between 2006 and 2014 he was on leave from UAF and worked at the National Science Foundation, ONR, and the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. At the National Science Foundation Dr.Jeffries was the first Program Director for the Arctic Observing Network in the Division of Arctic Sciences, Office of Polar Programs. In January 2011 he accepted an ONR invitation to help set up the Arctic and Global Prediction Program in response to the first Navy Arctic Road map. In September 2013 Dr.Jeffries went to work as a Science Advisor at the U.S. Arctic Research Commission before returning to ONR as a civilian employee in March 2014.

Captain Jones has conducted military hydrographic surveys throughout many regions of the globe as an IHO Cat A and Charge qualified military hydrographer. He has commanded 3 ships; the 18m inshore survey vesse lHMS GLEANER, a Mine Countermeasures Vessel, HMS QUORN and finally the first of class survey vessel, HMS ECHO, commanding the project through build, trials and training to full operational status deployed East of Suez.  In his current assignment he is the the policy lead, the Defence Authority and Joint User for Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) Capabilities additionally responsible for managing the pan defence requirement for defence Foundation Data from UKHO, UKMetO and the Defence Geographic &Aeronautical Information Centre. With this and more to his name, Captain Jones is an excellent choice for chairman of the standards and interoperability sessions at DGI in 2015.

Currently working as the Srategic Business Development Director for Ordnance Survey International, John works extensively on strategic level advices, programme delivery and strategic business development in Middle East. Formerly a key leader in the ever-developing MOD geospatial and information superiority fields with a network of international contacts John is well placed to steer discussion at DGI once again in 2015.

Mr. Gil Klinger is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space and Intelligence within the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics where he is responsible for acquisition oversight of all space and intelligence programs executed by the Department of Defense.

Immediately prior to assuming leadership ofSIO, Mr. Klinger was the Assistant Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Architecture Engineering & Integration where he led Intelligence Community activities assessing the adequacy of the intelligence collection enterprise,identified shortfalls and solutions, managed teams focused on specific short and long-term issues in response to Director of National Intelligence taskings,and provided domain and subject matter expertise to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence across a broad range of disciplines and collection areas.

Prior to his assignment at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Mr. Klinger was the Director of Space Policy, National Security Council Staff, where he was the lead member of the Executive Office of the President on all space issues. He is principal author of five national space polices, including the first new U.S. space exploration vision in more than a generation.

Reporting to Admiral Robert Tarrant Commodore Jerry Kyd leads a task force of up to 3500 commanding the UK Royal Navy’s deployed Maritime Task Group. Commodore Kyd’s next role will be to Command the UK’s newest and most expensive Aircraft Carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and the UK Carrier Strike Group offering him a unique perspective on how Maritime GEOINT will serve deployed forces in the future. Challenges Commodore Kyd sees ahead include evolving threats coupled with rapid technological advances including cyberspace, communications and proliferation of advanced weaponry and these impacts on planning and doctrine. Make sure you attend his keynote session morning of January 21.

Dr Vanessa Lawrence CB will discuss how locational intelligence is assisting improved decision-making by both the public and private sector nationally, regionally and globally. Her talk will consider the many new technological developments that will revolutionise our personal lives through to how the use locational information is a fundamental part of the post 2015 sustainable development agenda for the globe.

Since August 2014, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Lynch has been the Commanding Officer of 30 Commando (Information Exploitation) Group Royal Marines. With service for a number of commands in the Royal Marines and operational experience in West Belfast, Iraq and Afghanistan Lt Colonel Lynch is well placed to offer a unique combination of recent operational experience using GEOINT, a leader’s perspective on the benefits of GEOINT for Marines and a current view on how the Royal Marines exploits information for decision support.

Denise is the Executive Director,Communications and Outreach for the international open standards organisation the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). In this role she is responsible for the planning and execution of marketing, communications and education programs to raise awareness and increase application of open geospatial and location standards by technology providers and users worldwide. Her other international roles include representation for the OGC at the United Nations Global Geographic Information Management (UNGGIM) committee and Chair of the Marketing and Outreach committee for the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI)association. Prior to her role with OGC, Denise worked for over 12 years with the Victorian Government (Australia) in areas of strategic policy, collaboration and innovation.

Julian has 20 years of Sales and Client Management of experience across various industries (Commercial, Public Safety, Defence and Intelligence) and joined IBM in 2011 through the acquisition of i2. He has been delivering Enterprise Intelligence Analysis solutions to customers worldwide for 10 years, bringing insight and experience from different industries to offer customer new ways of tackling key business challenges.

Robert B. Murrett is a faculty member in the Department of Public Administration and International Affairs, and serves as the Deputy Director of the Institute for National Security and Counter terrorism (INSCT) at the University. In addition, he is a staff member at the RAND Corporation, and the Institute for Defense Analyses.

Previously, Murrett was a career intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy, serving in assignments throughout the Pacific,Europe, and the Middle East through his thirty-four years of duty, retiring in the grade of Vice Admiral. His duty stations included service as Operational Intelligence Officer for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Assistant Naval Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway. For the last ten years, he served as Vice Director for Intelligence on the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Naval Intelligence, and Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).

Murrett has been honored with a “Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award” by International Relations (IR) students at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Each year IR students are asked by the Maxwell School to nominate a current member of the faculty who practices effective, innovative teaching in the field of international affairs.

Air Chief Marshal Peach was appointed ViceChief of the Defence Staff on 10 May 2013.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach was bornin 1956 in the West Midlands. He was educated at Aldridge Grammar School, theUniversity of Sheffield (BA), University of Cambridge (MPhil), RAF StaffCollege and the Joint Services Command and Staff College (HCSC). He holds twohonorary Doctorates from Kingston University and University of Sheffield.

Commissioned into the Royal Air Force in1977, he flew Canberras in the photographic reconnaissance role prior to threesuccessive tours on Tornado GR1 in the UK and Germany, qualifying as a weaponsand electronic warfare instructor. He commanded IX (Bomber) Squadron at RAFBrüggen in Germany 1994-1996. Staff tours include personal staff officer to theDeputy Commander and Commander-in-Chief in RAF Germany, Executive Officer toCommander Second Allied Tactical Air Force and Director Defence Studies RoyalAir Force. Operational service includes Belize, Hong Kong and Germany in the 1980s, Deputy Commander British Forces in Turkey (OpWarden), UK Head Military Coordination Centre Zakho (Iraq), DetachmentCommander in Saudi Arabia (Op Jural), Commander British Forces in Italy (OpEngadine), Air Commander (Forward) in HQ KFOR on Kosovo and Deputy SeniorBritish Military Adviser in US HQ Central Command 2001-2002.

He commanded the Air Warfare Centre at RAFWaddington from 2000 to 2003, was Director General Intelligence Collection inthe Ministry of Defence 2003-2006 and Chief of Defence Intelligence and Deputy Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee 2006-2009. He held the appointmentof Chief of Joint Operations at PJHQ(UK) from March 2009-December 2011 beforebecoming the first Commander of the UK Joint Forces Command from December2011-Apr 2013. He was appointed as Vice Chief of Defence Staff in May 2013.

Graduated and postgraduated in Surveying, Automation in Geodesy at the Budapest University of Technology. In his career his responsibilities include CAD in water management, digital satellite image processing at FÖMI RSC, later coordination in GIS/LIS/RS, their euroatlantic integration and bilateral R+Ds at the Land and Geoinformation Administration, Ministry of Agriculture till 2006. Trained at ESA’s Alpbach Summer School, spent schoolarship at Delft University of Technology and at the DG Information Technology of the European Commission in Luxemburg.
As secretary-general of the Hungarian HUNAGI in the past 20 years he is working in interdisciplinary networking, domestic horizontal partnerships and international cooperation. During this time his activities include CERCO, ISPRS, PPC, WPLA, EUROGI, GSDI, IGS, CELK Center, Inspire Expert Group, ISDE, UNGIWG, Hungarian Space Council, CEOS WGISS and GEO and boards of several international journals. Recently he is member of the European Umbrella Organisation for Geographical Information’s policy paper drafting teams on Big and Linked Data as well as Open Data.

As founder and sole employee of Augmented Technologies Mike is currently focused on improving the accuracy and quality of AR visualisation within applications and ensuring the right people are aware of the groundbreaking work he is doing to enhance GIS capabilities through software development.

Currently account manager for UK C4ISR responsible to the Sales Director for identifying and securing sales of Envitia products and solutions to System Integrator and Government customers, Mark is a former political advisor for the UK MoD. Possessed of both industry and government perspectives Mark is therefore excellently positioned to offer deep insight and highly qualified views on possible future capabilities of GEOINT for the user community.

Expert in maritime GEOINT and Hydrographer of the Navy Captain David Robertson is an obvious choice as chairman for the Maritime GEOINT stream at DGI in 2015. Accountable for the force generation of all Maritime Geo capability and for 5 ships and the Met offices at 7 air stations plus head of specialisation to some 315 people Captain Robertson also oversees policy,operations, in-service capability management, standards, capability development and geospatial intelligence for the Navy.

Former functional NATO Commander of an international military and civilian staff from 18 nations with over 3,000 personnel and a$415M budget providing Airborne Early Warning, Command, Control, Battle Management and ISR in support of Joint and NATO commanders. Recently retired from the US Air Force with over 20 years of executive experience leading high-performance teams culminating in his leadership role for NATO. During his career he developed transformational Missile Defense, UAV and ISR concepts for Europe and Africa.In addition he initiated LEAN management and new organizational structures to optimize a $415M budget while deploying industry-leading, multi-billion dollarAWACS and ISR acquisition programs.

As CEO Chris is ultimately responsible for rolling out the What3Words technology across commercial and government partners across the world. In addition he is responsible for putting in place the appropriate technical infrastructure to support the system and educating new sectors on the real-world applications of what3words relevant to their sector and the benefits they can reap.

Dr. Spyropoulos has over 23 years of Earth Observation and Satcom industry experience working as executive in IIS-EOSAT, Space Imaging, Definiens, Cosmotelco, KBI and 5CI. His project management portfolio includes exploitation of various EO missions and coordination of several European Commission projects such as TELEMATICS, ACTS, ESPRIT, IST, covering subjects such as environmental liability, geospatial intelligence, security and advanced information systems.
He holds a PhD in Remote Sensing and MSc in Remote Sensing from UCL-Imperial, London and BSc & MSc in Land Reclamation and Water Resource Engineering from Athens University. He has been Remote Sensing lecturer at University of Athens and JRC, Ispra.

Mr Stith concurrently serves as the Chief of National System for Geospatial-Intelligence (NSG) Capabilities and Integration and as the Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Geospatial-Intelligence Management.   On behalf of the GEOINT Functional Manager,the organization monitors GEOINT capabilities, programs, resources and activities, leads the development and implementation of community-wide policies, strategies, and planning guidance needed to maximize GEOINT program investments, and implements the NSG strategic management cycle as it supports program build activities.

Mr. Stith previously served externally for 30 months in 2011-2014 as the Director, Ministry of Interior Ministerial Advisory Group (MOI MAG) with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and led the totality of coalition efforts to build, reform, and sustain the capabilities of the Ministry of Interior and the 230K-person national security force that it supported.  He oversaw the development of end-to-end ministerial processes for human resource management, transparency and accountability, logistics, strategy and policy, financial resource management, intelligence, acquisition, and maintenance.  He similarly coordinated the activities of numerous non-ISAF international partners in developing organic Afghan capacities.  Inherent to all operational Afghan capabilities, he heavily leveraged and emphasized use of GEOINT analysis and products as a foundational element for success.   

Frank Suykens is the Chief Technology Officer at Luciad, overseeing Product Development. He is responsible for the development, release and strategy of Luciad Products and for Luciad research.
Prior to joining Luciad in 2003, Frank was R&D Engineer at Barco and held positions of Researcher and Postdoctoral associate at the Computer Graphics Research group, Department of Computer Science at the University of Leuven. Frank obtained a Master of Science in Engineering at the University of Leuven (Belgium) in 1995, and a Ph.D. in Engineering at the same university in 2002.

John Teufert has been working as the NATO’s Communications and Information Agency senior GeoMetOc Subject Matter Expert (SME) and GeoMetOcGroup Head since 2003. Before joining NATO he worked for the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy and before that he spent several years with the WEU (later EU) Council’s Satellite Centre in Madrid,Spain, the only Pan-European Imagery-Intelligence Organisation. In his current function he is responsible for the execution of NATO’s ambitious GeoMetOcR&D program as well as NATO’s GeoMetOc systems acquisitions and implementations.In addition he and his team provide a wide variety of high level GeoMetOctechnical and scientific support to all NATO bodies to succeed with their missions, including significant in-theatre support to NATO Forces in Kosovo and Afghanistan. Over the last years Mr Teufert has deployed more than 40 times into operations which allowed him to stay in close contact with the real needs of the war-fighter. His work in NATO has been recognised through the receipt of the “USGIF Geospatial Intelligence Achievement Award 2009 (Military Division)”and more recently the “JCTD Transition Manager of the year 2011” awarded by the Office of the US Secretary of Defence.

Dr. (LtCol) Michael L. Thomas is currently assigned to Naval Space and Warfare Center (SPAWAR) Charleston as a C4ISR Systems Engineer in the Communications and Networks Division stationed at HQUSEUCOM in Stuttgart,Germany. In this capacity he is responsible for the design; implementation and fielding of major network projects initiated by the Navy, sister services and other US government customers. His prior assignment with SPAWAR was in the Heidelberg Office supporting HQ USAREUR in Geospatial Engineering. He has been on detached special duty since being activated in March 2007, and has served a short tour at the Pentagon, served as a Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) LNO to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), along with an assignment to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) as an instructor teaching Cyber war courses.

Neil Thompson is the Managing Partner of WC Group before that he had a long and distinguished career in the Canadian Forces with more than 30years in various command and staff positions in the defence, civilian and international intelligence communities. These included a secondment to the Government of Canada Privy Council Office and a Branch Chief on the International Military Staff at NATO Headquarters.

He was the first Commanding Officer of the Canadian Forces Joint Imagery Centre. He was also a Defence Intelligence Attaché in the United Kingdom. Upon returning to Canada, he became Director Intelligence Operations within the Chief of Defence Intelligence Staff. He completed his career as the Director of Geospatial Intelligence. He was responsible for all aspects of Geospatial Intelligence in the Canadian Forces.

Neil has kept active in the Intelligence and Geospatial Intelligence fields by accepting the position of Managing Director of the WCGroup. Neil has maintained his contacts in the Canada, the United States and Europe brings a unique perspective to this focus day.

Responsible for the design of operations and growth strategies within the Centre for Advanced Spatial Technologies and Mapping as well as advisory and instruction on GeoINT and overall corporate management and international relations Dr Usman is Nigeria’s foremost expert on GEOINT and a long-term supporter of DGI. With connections across all relevant agencies and bodies in Nigeria responsible for advancing GEOINT Dr Usman is a highly influential figure at DGI year in year out.

Dan Visone has served as the Director of the Geospatial Acquisition Support Directorate (GASD) since February 2009. His directorate is responsible for providing geospatial engineering and domain support to the Army Acquisition Community for implementation of the Army Geospatial Enterprise(AGE). The GASD is directly responsible for developing and maintaining the AGE profile of geospatial standards and formats; creating and maintaining the Army Geospatial Data Model; developing and maintaining a DOD Architecture Framework-compliant AGE architecture; developing and maintaining a list of AGE-compliant Common Applications/Services; and establishing and maintaining AGE geospatial interoperability certification criteria. Mr Visone is among the most senior figures contributing to DGI in 2015 and we are delighted to host him at the event.

Captain Sebastien Waerstad-Campeau is currently the head instructor in geospatial engineering at the Norwegian Army Land Warfare Centre. He joined the Norwegian Army in 2002, starting studies at the Norwegian Military Academy, earning a bachelor in engineering with specialization in geospatial engineering. He has served as a geo-officer in the Engineer Battalion and Telemark Battalion (NOR Army High Readiness Force). Captain Waerastad-Campeau has manned geo-cells in NOR ISTAR HQ, Brigade HQ as well as in own battalions. In 2007 and 2013 he has deployments to Afghanistan.

Colonel Antony (Tony) Wilby assumed his appointment in the Joint Forces Intelligence Group (JFIG) in April 2014 and is responsible for developing the Group’s long term strategy, medium and short-term plans, and training policies.  He also oversees the Measures of Effect section on behalf of the Commander, and the management of JFIG liaison and embed posts; particularly those with Partners Across Government (PAG)agencies.  As Commander Royal Engineers (Geographic) (CRE(Geo)), he has functional responsibility for all aspects of the Royal Engineer Geographic capability and its personnel across Defence and in international appointments.

Andrew Wright is a GIS Project Manager at Washington College’s Crime Mapping and Analysis Program (CMAP). Andrew has worked closely with many law enforcement and criminal justice agencies in Maryland providing technical support, instruction, and outreach. Andrew also administers the Maryland Offender Management System (MOMS) which allows law enforcement to use geospatial technology to perform federated geographical and tabular searches against multiple offender databases. Andrew is also the project lead for new linkage functionality that is being developed to enhance law enforcements ability to understand complex social networks. In addition to his work with Maryland law enforcement, Andrew is an approved technical assistance provider for the Bureau of Justice Assistance National Training and Technical Assistance Center.

Leader of multiple centers of geospatial excellence in Greece and around Europe Professor Zalidis is a recognized leader in the global geospatial information community. Currently Council Member,Professor in the Laboratory of Applied Soil Science and Director of the Laboratory of Remote Sensing and G.I.S., at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture Professor Zalidis also acts as Scientific Director, Inter balkan Environment Center (i-BEC) and Special Expert –Representative of the Special Secretariat for Water, Hellenic Republic,Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change. His work at the InterBalkan Environmental Center focuses on integrated management and protection of both trans boundary watersheds and natural resources within the context of sustainable development, through innovative applications and more effective governance.

With more than 27 years working at Raytheon, one of the world’s leading system integrators of geospatial information systems, Jane is part of the business’ senior leadership team bringing a wealth of experience in intelligence and information system development. From roles in software engineering and architecture design to managing program execution for major international initiatives Jane is extremely well qualified to contribute to the high-level morning panel discussion on January 20.

Wearing two hats Commander Crossman heads up the national geospatial intelligence organisation in New Zealand as well as acting as Hydrographer for the Navy making him eminently qualified to provide up-to-date information about New Zealand’s geospatial intelligence capability and strategic direction.

Through a 22 year military intelligence career Pete served in a wide range of intelligence and policy posts in UK, HQ NATO and the US and on operations in Iraq, the Balkans and in Northern Ireland. These positions allowed him to build a depth of knowledge and experience in ISTAR operations and collection management. Pete is a graduate of the UK Military Advanced Command and Staff College and holds a MA in Defence Studies.

Since leaving the military Pete has remained in the geospatial and multi-intelligence environment and for the past three years has been responsible for developing 2d3 Sensing’s business outside of the US. In this time 2d3 Sensing have solidified their position as a provider of motion imagery, computer vision and data standards research for Dstl, and have successfully deployed their COTS software products to a number of UK and overseas customers.

With 30 Years commercial, government and academic experience in spatial data infrastructures (SDI), location-based services (LBS), geospatial intelligence, geographic information systems (GIS), computer-based mapping, and remote sensing Professor Jackson is a recognized expert on geospatial systems. Having held roles including Chair of Geospatial Science in2005, Director of the Space Division at QinetiQ, Head of Location Platform at Hutchison 3G ("3"), CEO of geospatial software developer Laser-Scan Holdings plc. and research/management posts at the Natural Environment Research Council, the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell and the Department of Environment Professor Jackson has the variety of experience in the geospatial community to very ably lead discussions at DGI in 2015.

One of DGI’s longest supporters from the global community of expert geographers John Knight is highly qualified to lead discussions onsite having spent more than 17 years lecturing at the Royal School of Military Survey in the UK. Under his tutelage many current leaders of national mapping agencies and military mapping branches have learnt their trade and continue to shape the future of mapping making John’s work part of the evolution of mapping around the world. Advisor and contributor in 2015 John is one of the key people to meet and learn from onsite.

Barry MacDonald joined the Canadian Forces in 1971 and was commissioned, as an Intelligence Officer, in 1994. He has served in the Infantry and Military Police career fields but has been employed as an intelligence professional since 1978. He has served as an intelligence analyst,manager, trainer, assistant attaché and staff officer.

In 2007, Barry was assigned to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa where he was the national coordinator for Measurement and Signatures Intelligence and, later, Chief of Staff for the Directorate of Geospatial Intelligence; an organization of some 600 personnel.

Promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 2010, he led the Governance and Partnerships Staff responsible for managing Canadian Forces geospatial intelligence relationships both domestic and international. He was also selected to establish a J2 Targeting Branch which he led until his retirement from Regular Force service in May 2011.

Jon Rigby joined the Royal Air Force directlyfrom University, undertaking officer and engineering training at the Royal AirForce College Cranwell from October 1983 to June 1985. As a junior officer heserved as the engineering officer on 63 Squadron RAF Regiment, a Rapier ShortRange Air Defence Squadron based at RAF Gutersloh, and subsequently as a staffofficer responsible for operational communications systems at HQ StrikeCommand. On promotion to Squadron Leader he completed a tour in the DefenceIntelligence Staff, as a technical analyst responsible for foreign surface toair weapons systems and subsequently commanded 33 Signals Unit, Ayios Nikolaos. He was promoted to Wing Commander in 1996 andreturned to the Defence Intelligence Staff as the engineering officerresponsible for military special signals. In 1997 he attended No 1 AdvancedCommand and Staff Course and was subsequently posted to the Permanent JointHeadquarters, with responsibility for communications and information systems engineeringon all UK deployed operations; including the Gulf, the Balkans, East Timor andSierra Leone. On completion of this tour he was appointed OBE. In 2000 he wasposted in command of RAF Oakhanger and 1001 Signals Unit, charged withproviding UK military satellite communications. On promotion to Group Captain in 2002, hecompleted a short tour at the Defence Communications Services Agency, beforeassuming command of RAF Digby and the Joint Services Signals Organization. InJanuary 2006 he was posted to the Directorate of Equipment Capability as theDeputy Director responsible for Intelligence and Information OperationsEquipment Capability. From August to December 2006 he was assigned to theEnabling Acquisition Change Team, responsible for defining Through LifeCapability Management policy. He was promoted to Air Commodore in December2006 and was posted to HQ Air, as ACOS A6. Shortly afterwards he attended theHigher Command and Staff Course, returning to High Wycombe in April 2007. Hedeployed on Op TELIC in November 2007, serving as the Deputy C2 (Forward) forMulti National Forces Iraq in Baghdad. He assumed command of the IntelligenceCollection Group (ICG) in July 2008: and was responsible for a variety ofnational intelligence collection and analysis capabilities. On completion ofthis tour in August 2011 he was appointed CBE, and selected for promotion toAir Vice-Marshal. He subsequently completed Terms 1 and 2 at the Royal Collegeof Defence Studies before taking up his current appointment as Director Cyber,Intelligence and Information Integration in March 2012.

Former Deputy Head of Intelligence Capability Strategy and Policy at the UK MoD and now head of one of the world’s leading centres of geospatial intelligence fusion Group Captain Jonathan Rolf is central in the UK’s geospatial intelligence community.

Reporting directly to the Chief of the Military Geography Department Colonel Yagmur’s responsibilities include generating military geography documents, establishing geospatial data delivery systems and advising Armed Forces on geospatial issues. Some of the challenges he is striving to overcome include dealing with big data, integrating different disciplines for interoperability and meeting the growing demand on geospatial intelligence for national security.