Featured Plenary Speakers

Bruce Wong

Manager Advanced Network Analytics
General Motors Company

Bruce Wong started his career with Chevrolet Motor Division in Portland Oregon in 1977. He quickly became a District Sales Manager working with Chevrolet dealers in California. In 1988 he joined the Chevrolet Dealer Organization management team and was tasked with improving the Chevrolet dealer network in the western half of the United States. Since then Bruce has moved up and is now responsible for network analytics for all GM brands and their dealer network performance.

For the past 23 years Bruce has been working towards a better understanding of GM's dealer network through improved site performance analytics and dealer behavior characteristics. Bruce was first introduced to Esri technology in 1996 through ArcView and ArcInfo applications. Bruce has embraced Esri technology and has applied his experience with GIS technology to develop the Phoenix Methodology, which now drives the GM Advanced Network Analytics system.

Wayne M. Gearey Jr., BA, MS, PhD

Senior Vice President Location Intelligence
Jones Lang LaSalle

Dr. Wayne Gearey leads Location Intelligence efforts for Jones Lang LaSalle clients across North America. Dr. Gearey has designed innovative location intelligence models and performed market analysis for national and international clients for the last 20 years. As a Location Intelligence Professional with an expertise in applied GIS, Dr. Gearey is uniquely qualified to understand population trends, supply and demand, Dr. Gearey works with clients to validate, consolidate and operate their real estate portfolio quickly and efficiently with location intelligence, lending confidence to costly strategic decisions Dr. Gearey uncovers hidden geographies of opportunity and as a result brings business strategies into alignment with new location opportunities.

Dr. Gearey earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at the University of Calgary while working for a Canadian Member of Parliament in Canada, followed by a Post Graduate Diploma in GIS at Simon Fraser University in Canada. To expand his expertise in geographic information systems, he obtained a Master of Science in GIS at the University of Salford in Manchester, UK. To work as a social Scientist, Dr. Gearey completed post-graduate work at Johns Hopkins University and went on to earn a Doctorate of Philosophy, "Towards a model for defining and assembling areal units to support market research using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology" at Coventry University, in Coventry, UK. Wayne has served as a lecturer and researcher while continuing to publish research with scientists from the following institutions: University of Texas, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.

Rob Bakker

Knowledge Manager
Achmea

Achmea is the largest insurance company in the Netherlands. Achmea provides insurance and financial services through several subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The company sells life, non-life, health, and disability insurance under several brand names. Company agents, bankers, and brokers sell the company's products. Achmea also sells directly over the Internet through its FBTO unit and through brokers. In addition to its insurance operations, Achmea provides mortgage lending and retail lending services, as well as private banking for high-net-worth individuals. Achmea is a participant of Eurapco.

Rob Bakker has been instrumental in establisching a GIS Competence Center within the IT department. In his current role as Knowledge Manager, Rob is responsible for discovering and promoting GIS within the business units and ensuring that GIS brings competitive advantage to the business. Rob has over thirty years of experience, ranging from Product & Portfolio Manager, Property, Engineering and Casualty Specialist and a Specialist in Underwriting. Rob has also been the spokesperson for the Dutch Assocation of Insurers (Verbond van Verzekeraars) for the Millennium project.

David Kniffin

Business Manager
3M Traffic Safety Systems

Dave Kniffin has been involved with transportation safety for over 25 years working with 3M in their Traffic Safety System Division. Kniffin began his career as a territory sales representative in the Pacific Northwest. After 3 years he grew tired of the trees, mountains and rivers and shook things up by moving to Springfield, Illinois where he served as a Regional Sales Manager. After 8 years of corn and soybeans Dave relocated to the frozen tundra of Minnesota and began his career in marketing and business management.

In the last 15 years Dave has served as a Marketing Specialist, Sales Trainer, Marketing Operations Manager, and Six Sigma Master Blackbelt, a specialized business management strategy focused on improving the quality of process outputs. Dave now holds the title of Business Manager for 3M Roadway Maintenance Services where he has grown the Traffic Safety Systems highway business by accelerating the services sector, and investigating and developing new service opportunities within the Highway Safety market. He creates, drives and educates the division on 3M's service model.

Dave Graduated from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon with degrees in Economics and Political Science. Dave has served as a member of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association young executives program and as the committee chairman for the American Traffic Safety Services Association sign committee. Six Sigma Master Blackbelt

Bishwa Pandey

GIS Product Manager
AIR Worldwide

Bishwa Pandey has over 16 years' of experience working with both private and public sectors and serves as the GIS product manager at AIR Worldwide, the scientific leader and most respected provider of catastrophe risk modeling software and consulting services globally.

Pandey has managed the geospatial process, built capacity and worked towards better geo-spatial knowledge and skill transfer, while building AIR's GIS from ground-up. He is deeply involved in disseminating GIS knowledge and has contributed to the advancement of geo-spatial analysis and processes over the years by working in diverse and multitude of projects around the world.

Pandey has worked a number of years in South America bringing GIS knowledge to the sustainable environmental management process in Amazon and Andean region. Since 2003, he has been in the US helping companies to integrate spatial analysis processes in their existing business workflow. His current involvement in probabilistic risk modeling is complementary with his earlier works in environmental management, disaster risk management and other large numbers of GIS projects.