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Esri Telecommunications GIS Heroes

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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

  • Gülnur Özbaş smiling and wearing a white blazer overlaid on a purple background
    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.
  • Eric Carroll smiling and wearing a black collared shirt overlaid on a purple background
    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.
  • Portrait of Derek Rieckmann smiling in a blue striped shirt with a purple background
    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.
  • Portrait of Letizia Guadalupi smiling in a pale purple shirt with a purple background
    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.
  • Portrait of Vanessa Greul-Smidt smiling in a white shirt and black blazer with a purple background
    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.
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  • A portrait of Sarah Rose
    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.
  • A portrait of Jason Koonce
    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.
  • A portrait of Terri-Ann Grant
    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.
  • A portrait of Amerley Ampofo
    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.
  • A portrait of Javier Isaac González
    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.
  • A portrait of Boris Pitchforth
    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.
  • A portrait of Quinton Maximoff
    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.
  • A portrait of Edward Gause
    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.
  • A portrait of Shawn Bowers
    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.
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  • A portrait of Maryam Sanieian
    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.
  • A portrait of Danielle Conner
    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.
  • A portrait of Jhann Burke
    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.
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