Advisory Council

Dr. Mark C. Abrams is an international leader in high resolution spectroscopy, active and passive remote sensing, geolocation and co-authored Fourier Transform Spectrometry. He specializes in calibration and independent verification and validation of complex information systems.

Most recently, he supported the certification of high-resolution 3D digital surface models and co-registered imagery covering 26 globally distributed international sites. He has deployed on four continents, most recently in Africa, and has delivered national-scale reference databases across the last three decades on each continent.

He holds B.A, M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of California at Berkeley and has authored 54 papers in refereed journals.

Dr. Budhendra “Budhu” Bhaduri is a Corporate Research Fellow and the director of science, programs, and partnerships for national security sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In that capacity he provides strategic guidance and leadership to scientific and programmatic endeavors spanning geospatial science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and scalable and high performance computing particularly focusing on defense space and environmental programs.

Dr. Bhaduri is responsible for evaluating technological trends, evolving sponsor requirements, and laboratory’s technical capability directions for growing ORNL’s programmatic footprint, and mission impact related to space technologies, climate security and emergency response. Additionally, he fosters strategic partnerships with leading universities, research institutions, private companies and charitable organizations to expedite the development and implementation of innovative solutions.

Since joining ORNL in 1998, Dr. Bhaduri has spearheaded initiatives covering novel implementation of geospatial science and technology for a wide variety of programs supporting energy, environment and national security missions across the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.

Dr. Bhaduri is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the American Association of Geographers (AAG), and has served on the Geographical Sciences Committee of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a founding member of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Geospatial Sciences Steering Committee and a recipient of the Department’s Outstanding Mentor Award for his dedicated service for developing future workforce for the nation.

He routinely serves on national and international expert panels and has published extensively in leading scientific journals. He holds professorial appointments with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and is actively involved with academic institutions for scientific collaborations and student engagement for research in geospatial science.

Deirdre Dalpiaz Bishop is chief of the Geography Division at the U.S. Census Bureau, where she leads the development of a national geospatial database. This repository of addresses, roads and boundaries creates the foundation for the decennial census and ongoing surveys, enabling all data collection, tabulation and dissemination.

Bishop received her master’s degree in public administration from New York University and her bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Lehigh University. Bishop is a co-chair of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management, while also serving as head of the U.S. delegation to this committee. She is the president of the U.S. National Section of the Pan American Institute of Geography and History.

Sean O’Brien, Ph.D., was recognized as the 2021 AI Executive of the Year (WashingtonExec Pinnacle Award) for the National Security Industry. His goal is to create the teams, practices, processes and culture needed to tackle the exploding data and AI challenges facing government and commercial partners.

Most recently he has been Vice President, Intelligent Systems, HRL Laboratories. He previously was the Chief Technologist at Northrop Grumman for their Intelligence, Analytics and Autonomous Solutions business areas, which depend heavily on artificial intelligence and other advanced algorithms and spent several years leading Northrop’s Algorithmic Warfare Department in Woodland Hills, CA.

Before coming to NG in 2005, Sean held multiple positions in academia, including at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, and at Yale University in New Haven, CT.

Dr. Elisabeth Root is Deputy Director for Gender, Vulnerability and Health Equity at the Institute for Disease Modeling at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this role, she directs research that informs the design and implementation of programs and investments that focus on improving the health and well-being of women and children. Specifically, her portfolio investigates causal links between structural, social, and economic factors and health and wellbeing, and examines the drivers of program and intervention effectiveness across different geographies, contexts and subpopulations.

Dr. Root received her Ph.D. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.A. in Geographic Information Science from University of Maryland College Park. Prior to joining the Gates Foundation, Elisabeth was a Professor of Geography and Epidemiology at The Ohio State University and served on the leadership team for the Institution for Population Research.

During her academic career, her research focused on the social determinants of health among vulnerable populations. She developed analytic techniques to examine the long-term and intergeneration impacts of health and development programs on women and children in Bangladesh, The Philippines and Honduras. Her research activities also focused on exploring spatio-temporal patterns of mortality and disease in LMICs, with an emphasis on modeling the contribution of social, economic and structural factors.

Dr. Greg Scott joined PVBLIC Foundation as the Executive Director of the SDG Data Alliance in January 2024, following 12 years in the United Nations providing the lead Secretariat support to the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). This included the establishment and growth of UN-GGIM, providing strategic policy advice and leadership, and guiding the development, coordination and implementation of the substantive content for UN-GGIM, including its World Geospatial Information Congresses, High-Level Forum’s, international technical capacity development workshops, and other international fora.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Greg previously spent 25 years in Geoscience Australia in several key roles delivering Australia’s national topographic mapping and derivative geospatial programs and providing independent scientific analysis and advice in the use of geospatial information for environmental management, emergency management, and critical infrastructure protection.

Today, Greg is leading the expansion of the SDG Data Alliance into a new phase for developing countries, including increased engagement with SIDS through the establishment of a SIDS Centre of Excellence and Global Data Hub in Antigua & Barbuda. Greg has a Graduate Diploma in Geography from the Australian National University, and PhD in Geomatics Engineering from the University of Melbourne.

Damian Spangrud is the Director of Solutions at Esri.

In his 30 years at Esri, he has focused on making the Science of Where understandable and actionable. As part of Esri’s corporate management team, he often travels to speak about the role of GIS along with technology and innovation trends. In his role as Director of Solutions, Damian manages teams that evangelize the role of GIS across industries and build industry focused apps, making it easier to use GIS across organizations while driving innovation. Prior to his current role, he led Esri’s product management team as the ArcGIS Product Manager.

Damian has an MSc in Earth Science and Geography from Montana State University-Bozeman and a BS in Geography from the University of Colorado Boulder.

He has a passion for maps and spatial analysis and tweets about all things spatial (especially maps) @spangrud.

Barry Tilton joined Maxar in 2020 after its acquisition of Vricon and serves as the Technology Evangelist and Senior Director of Engineering for Maxar Intelligence. In this role he shepherds Maxar’s diverse portfolio of technologies that have come to Maxar from its several legacy companies and helps evolve concepts for integrated solutions and services from that portfolio.

Prior to this role, Mr. Tilton served as CTO and VP of Engineering for Vricon, where he orchestrated the integration of 3D technology into key US markets and worked on the evolution of that technology suite to meet new customer needs. He is a 20-year Air Force veteran who worked as a Chief Engineer, Scientist, and Program Director while on active duty. Space Division, NRO, Space Command and NGA. Subsequent to his retirement from the AF in 2005, and prior to joining Vricon, Barry has worked in industry supporting both air and space programs in remote sensing, space surveillance and resilience and GEOINT for both commercial applications, the NRO and NGA.

He is a licensed Professional Engineer, and a certified Project Management Professional with over 38 years of experience in remote sensing, optical engineering and space systems. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the IEEE, is currently on the Board of Governors of their Aerospace and Electronic Society and is a Fellow of the American Geographical Society. He holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California and an Master of Science in electrical engineering from Northrop University.