Telecom GIS Heroes | Industry Leaders in the Community

Esri telecom GIS heroes inspire

These heroes are leaders within the GIS community and true GIS champions. As proven problem solvers, they have gained deep respect from colleagues. Their genuine love of this technology inspires others to imagine how GIS can help them achieve their own ambitious goals. Join us in celebrating these industry leaders who are making a difference in the telecom community every day.

Scott Johnson | Norvado

A GIS specialist, Scott used his 18 years of telecom industry experience to create a robust ArcGIS Enterprise-based system that helps the Norvado team stay ahead of their competition. The system demonstrates high levels of detail and accuracy and is truly extraordinary, especially considering the limited number of resources that were available to create it.

Scott Johnson smiling and wearing a plaid red and yellow dress shirt overlaid on a purple background

Sierra Alcantra | MTA

Sierra is a GIS systems supervisor who specializes in plant facilities and records management for Matanuska Telephone Association (MTA) in Palmer, Alaska. She began her career at MTA in 1990 as a high school intern for the Outside Plant Engineering department. Her drafting and computer experience along with her passion for knowledge and technology allowed her to quickly find a niche in the telecom industry. Over the last 33 years, Sierra worked on several MTA plant facility software and database migrations. The newest transformation leverages Esri products and is the one she is most excited about.

Sierra Alcantra wearing glasses and smiling overlaid on a purple background

Inez Beszterda | Orange Polska

Inez is a mobile network systems design expert who manages GIS in Orange Polska’s Mobile Network department. She conducts advanced spatial analysis that supports decision-making and is responsible for the unit’s GIS strategy and development. Inez studied geoinformation at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, and received an Erasmus+ grant to study at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. She actively promotes GIS and participates in projects that support women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Inez Beszterda smiling overlaid on a purple background

Past GIS Heroes

2022
2021
2020

GIS Hero Fall 2022

Gülnur Özbaş | Turkcell

Gülnur authored a study that revealed Turkcell’s opportunities for fiber investment and predicted future annual rates of return for sales.
GIS Hero Fall 2022

Eric Carroll | University of Kentucky

Eric and his team built an intelligent utilities and telecommunications network to design, organize and field collect large datasets.
GIS HERO FALL 2022

Derek Rieckmann | Midco

As the director of GIS at Midco, Derek is a respected leader who has successfully demonstrated the value of GIS to C-level executives.
GIS HERO FALL 2022

Letizia Guadalupi | G.Network

Letizia has over 20 years of experience working with GIS and is a growth-oriented GIS manager.
GIS HERO FALL 2022

Vanessa Greul-Smidt | Vattenfall Eurofiber

As a senior network planning engineer for Vattenfall Eurofiber, Vanessa and her team are working on an open-access fiber network in Berlin.

GIS Hero fall 2021

Sarah Rose | City of Loveland

Sarah leverages 15 years of expertise and a solution-oriented mindset to deliver enterprise-wide capabilities and simplified workflows.
GIS Hero fall 2021

Jason Koonce | Metro Communications Company

Jason designs FTTH networks for underserviced communities and helps create efficient methods for teams to share data throughout the organization.
GIS Hero fall 2021

Terri-Ann Grant | Jurassic Fibre Limited

In her current role as a director of network design and GIS operations, Terri-Ann has successfully deployed GIS solutions in eight countries.
GIS Hero Summer 2021

Amerley Ampofo | MTN

Amerley leverages her passion for GIS to transform organizations throughout West Africa, create best practices, and mentor women in the field.
GIS Hero Summer 2021

Javier Isaac González | Cable & Wireless Panama

Since 2007, Javier Isaac has led projects focused on the networking, education, social, and security fields as well as low-income communities.
GIS Hero Summer 2021

Boris Pitchforth | Vodafone UK

Boris continues to evolve Vodafone’s enterprise GIS system, creating a long-term strategy to transform the business using location intelligence.
GIS Hero Spring 2021

Quinton Maximoff | TDS Telecom

Quinton uses his passion for GIS to deliver innovative problem-solving solutions that support business operations at TDS Telecom.
GIS Hero Spring 2021

Edward Gause | HTC

Edward has developed and deployed numerous applications, resources, and machine learning tools, empowering the HTC team to achieve their mission.
GIS Hero Spring 2021

Shawn Bowers | Windstream

Shawn implemented ArcGIS Enterprise to share OSP data across Windstream and grew its user base from a few groups to more than 5,000 employees.

GIS HERO FALL 2020

Maryam Sanieian | Comcast

Maryam joined Comcast in 2015. She works with teams throughout the organization to understand their needs and solve problems using GIS.
GIS HERO FALL 2020

Danielle Conner | Charter Communications

Danielle works with the teams at Charter Communications to provide insights that improve customer experience and aid network expansion.
GIS HERO FALL 2020

Jhann Burke | Comcast

Jhann utilized the Spectrum tool created by Comcast’s GIS team to identify and manage $55 million in capital for proactive builds.

Who will be the next Esri telecom GIS hero?

Tell us about someone you know who uses GIS to create innovative solutions and inspire others

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