Mark Wheeler, GISP, AICP – CIO of the City of Philadelphia
Mark Wheeler, AICP, GISP is the Chief Information Officer for the City of Philadelphia and director of the Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT). Under his leadership OIT has released the SmartCityPHL Roadmap and is transforming the department to adopt modular procurement, agile development, and a master data strategy. Mark previously served as Deputy CIO and Chief Geographic Information Officer and oversaw the release of public web tools Atlas, OpenMaps, and Vacancy to visualize and use City property data. Throughout his career Mark has pursued a passion for civic engagement and data-driven problem solving. He is a Citizens Planning Institute Advisory Board member and co-creator of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors Project and Citizens Toolkit. Mark has previously worked as a professional planner and as a GIS consultant to state, local and regional governments in New York State and New England. He has a master’s in regional planning from the University of Massachusetts.
Mark will be discussing his experiences as former GIO and now CIO for City of Philly including how GIS can be made central to operations and policy making and how Philadelphia was able to elevate GIS and incorporate open data and other “innovation” programs rather than compete with them for resources and attention.