Susan Nixson, NYS GIS Association President, 2015

November, 2014

Dear Colleagues:

It is my pleasure to serve as your president. My vision for the Association in the coming year is to continue the fantastic progress that has been made since its inception ten years ago. We have a strong web presence, a solid membership base, committed leaders and very active committees. My plan is to continue our growth as an organization with a focus on ensuring long-term stability in each of our mission areas, “to assist, educate, coordinate and guide the implementation, development and maintenance of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) technology in the State of New York.“

As a professional association we receive a great value at a very low membership cost. We can continue at the current level of economic commitment by our members and still enhance our growth by increasing our utilization of technology and tapping into our member resources.

Our recent successes have given us stability that will help us take this organization to the next level. Most recently we have improved our professional development opportunities for our members and communication with our membership. We can further integrate the arenas of government, the private sector and academia through more networking opportunities, and there is a great need to nurture the interaction between upstate and downstate geospatial professionals .  My focus will also be  to cultivate our partnerships with Universities and Colleges to create a pathway to the profession for the next generation of geospatial professionals in NYS.

Plans for the coming year

• Increase our brand recognition via specific actions that will increase recognition of the NYS GIS Association, the NYS GeoSpatial Summit and NYGeoCon.
• Increase our formal connections with academic institutions and the NYS GIS Association and begin internship opportunities and/or scholarship opportunities for students who are going into the geospatial field.
• Leverage our growing membership numbers to focus on state legislation that impacts the geospatial profession. It is imperative that we remain aware of and have a voice in any legislation that might have an impact our profession.
• Continue professional development webinars for all of our members.
• Have a fantastic NYGeoCon at the Albany Hilton in October 2015.

I look forward to working with you throughout the year to take the NYS GIS Association to the next level.