4 Elected To GITA Board; 3 Members Appointed To Lead GITA Councils

Posted: Jan. 11, 2019

AURORA, Colorado -- GITA, the Geospatial Information & Technology Association, and its president, Drew Fioranelli, today announced the election of four board members and the appointment of three council chairs. 

The organization announced the election of the following board members, serving two-year terms through Dec. 31, 2020:

• Anita Cahill, GISP and GIS Coordinator for the City of Winchester, Virginia. Anita also serves as an Adjunct Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Instructor at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. Previous positions include GIS Analyst and GIS Technician for the County of Frederick, VA. Anita is a member of GITA and the Virginia Association for Mapping and Land Information Systems (VAMLIS).

• Sheila McGinty, Ph.D. GISP, Regulatory Compliance Specialist at Williams. Sheila uses GIS to determine class for gas lines and high consequence areas (HCAs) for gas and liquids lines. McGinty also is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tulsa and Tulsa Community College and a GIS Designer for EASI. Prior employment includes Contractor for Explorer Pipeline, GIS Coordinator at Select Engineering and Executive Director for the GIS Certification Institute. Sheila's accomplishments include serving in various capacities for the GIS Certification Institute, establishing the GIS Professional (GISP) certification as the industry standard for professional certification in GIS, Pipeline Open Data Standard Association Technical Committee and as Executive Director, among others.

• Vince Rosales, Vice President at Spatialitics, a division of CyberTech Systems and Software. Vince was a founding member AM/FM International Rocky Mountain Chapter which later became the GITA Rocky Mountain Chapter. He is a member of the GIS in the Rockies (GISitR) Planning Committee and is the GISitR Planning Committee Chair. Vince also sits on the Rocky Mountain ASPRS Board and the GITA International Conference Planning Committee (6 years) and was the GITA International Conference Chair (2005). Other positions volunteer positions include GITA at Large Board Member (4 years), GITA Board Treasurer (1.5 years), Rocky Mountain URISA Board (Current), Co-Chair Boulder Denver Geospatial Technologists.

• Wolfgang Thun, GIS Sub-Discipline Manager with Bechtel in Houston, Texas. He has been with Bechtel in various capacities since 2011. In his current role, he is responsible for managing GIS support staff for Bechtel USA and global operations. He has previously held positions as a Consultant – Terranean Mapping Technologies (Brisbane, Australia), Consultant – Toowoomba Regional Council (Toowoomba, Australia), Operations Manager – Terranean Mapping Technologies (Brisbane, Australia), Supervisor Mapping and Property Information - Pine Rivers Shire Council (Brisbane, Australia), GIS Manager – Geo Mapping Technologies (Brisbane, Australia), and Various Roles Royal Australian Survey Corps, Australian Army. He is a member of the Member Surveying and Spatial Science Institute (Australia) and GITA.

Separately, GITA President Fioranelli announced three appointments to these newly established GITA advisory councils: 

• Michael Fuller, Chair, Emerging Technologies Advisory Council. Michael is Director of Energy Solutions, Quantum Spatial. Prior employment includes Energy Solutions Manager, Eagleview (AKA: Pictometry), Geospatial Account Manager and Analyst, Harris Corporation. Michael holds a MBA from the University of Florida and a BS in Imaging Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

• Surya Gade, Chair, Pipeline Advisory Council.Surya is Manager, Pipeline Engineering and Geospatial Engineering Department at Gulf Interstate Engineering and is a Project Manager for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Project. He also served as Chief Engineer, Pipeline Engineering Department at Gulf Interstate Engineering. Previous positions include Flow Assurance/Pipeline Engineer at Pipeline Software Coordinator at Fluor Corporation. Additionally, he has held various positions including Assistant Professor at McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA and Lamar University, Beaumont, TX. He is currently a member of GITA and participated at Pipeline Week/GITA Panelist - Pipeline Data Supporting Operations, Safety and Regulatory Compliance.

• Adrien Hafner, GISP, Chair, Early Career Professional Advisory Council.Adrien is GIS Analyst IV/Technical Lead, Duquesne Light Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has also served as the Chief Engineer, Pipeline Engineering Department. Previous positions include GIS Analyst – Development, Operations and Midstream, Vantage Energy, Englewood, CO, Geosteering Geologist, Diversified Well Logging, Washington, PA and Staff Geologist, HSA Engineers and Scientists, Tampa, FL. Adrien earned her Masters in Geospatial Information Technology in 2014.

GITA congratulates its newest board members and council chairs.