As a kid, I used to sit down with the CIA World Factbook and just read. The geographical data, the statistics, the fold-out maps; I couldn’t get enough of it. I didn’t have a word for what I was drawn to at the time, but when I walked into the Geography department at UTK, everything clicked. That curiosity about the world, about how places work and how information about them can be organized and visualized, had a name. It had a discipline. And it had a career path I didn’t know existed until I was standing in the middle of it.

After graduating, I set out to see how far that foundation could take me. The answer, twenty-plus years later, is further than I could have imagined. I’ve worked across the full spectrum of the GIS world, from analyst roles at Esri and Digital Globe, to leading GIS architecture and development for Prince William County in Virginia, to my current role as a Senior GIS Developer at dymaptic. Along the way I’ve built field data collection systems, architected enterprise GIS environments, automated data pipelines, developed mobile applications, and helped clients trade in their paper processes for modern, spatial workflows.

One of the things that has mattered most to me throughout my career is making GIS accessible, not just technically, but practically. I’ve spent a lot of time training people, writing documentation, and designing systems that non-GIS professionals can use. A great map or a well-built integration doesn’t matter if the people who need it can’t get to it. That philosophy has shaped nearly every project I’ve taken on.

I’ve been fortunate to earn some recognition along the way, including the Esri Special Achievement in GIS Award twice, in 2012 and 2015, and my GISP certification, which I hold with a lot of pride. But honestly, the work I’m most proud of is the quiet stuff: a Python script that saves a team hours every week, a system migration that nobody notices because it just works, or a training session where something finally makes sense for someone who has been struggling.

These days, I find myself back in Knoxville, which is a full-circle moment. Being back near where it all started has renewed something in me. I’m actively looking for ways to connect with the local GIS community, whether that means mentoring, teaching, or just getting in a room with people who are as enthusiastic about spatial data as I am. If you’re in the area and working in GIS, or trying to break into it, I’d like to hear from you.

If I could pass anything on to Geography students at UTK right now, it would be this:

• The skills you’re building are more transferable than you think. GIS touches transportation, utilities, public safety, environmental science, real estate, government, any industry that makes decisions about space. Don’t limit yourself to what a “GIS job” looks like on paper. Look for the dilemmas that need spatial thinking, understand them and work towards a solution.
• Take your programming seriously too. Whether it’s Python, SQL, C#, or JavaScript, the ability to write code that moves and transforms data will open more doors than almost anything else in this field.
• And finally, if you ever find yourself reading a reference book about the world just because you want to, you’re probably in the right major.