Annita Lucchesi (Cheyenne) serves as Executive Director of Sovereign Bodies Institute, and in that role, continues her work as founder and caretaker of the MMIW Database. She brings years of experience in grassroots research and organizing to end violence against indigenous women and girls, and has served as an advocate and expert in work with tribal, federal, and state efforts to better address the issue of missing and murdered indigenous women. Annita is a survivor of domestic and sexual violence, as well as trafficking. Her research specialties include indigenous methodologies, arts-based methods, critical cartography, and data sovereignty. She holds a BA in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley and a MA in American Studies from Washington State University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Geography with a minor in Gender & Women's Studies from the University of Arizona. 

NICOLE D. FRANKLIN

Karsten Vennemann is a GIS professional with more than 20 years of expertise in GIS and project management. His background is in Geography and Soil Science and he holds a Diploma (Master of Sc.) from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and a Master's Degree from UC Berkeley. The majority of his work focuses on GIS in the context of natural resources, sustainable development, and social justice. Over the course of his career, his work included positions as Environmental Scientist, GIS Analyst & Programmer, and Project Coordinator. Work tasks included GIS project management, GIS analysis, and cartography, remote sensing, development of web-based information systems, and implementation of spatial databases. He has experience in leading and managing GIS projects (in the academic, business, and non-profit sectors). In 2007 he started his own company, Terra GIS based in Seattle, and in 2017 opened a branch near Heidelberg, Germany. Karsten has worked on a wide variety of international projects in Europe, Africa, and South America, as well as projects in the Pacific Northwest (US). He teaches classes in Open Source GIS and a good portion of this consulting work involves creating and supporting Open Source based Web GIS solutions. Over the last 15 years, Karsten has been a frequent speaker at GIS conferences and has been an active member of the OSGeo Foundation and the Open Source Geospatial community. Link to CV.

STEVEN HOFFERT

Steven Hoffert is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Oregon Youth Authority and the current Chair of the Oregon Geographic Information Council.  He has worked in State and local government for over 25 years including the Oregon Judicial Department where he worked as the IT technical lead and Oregon Department of Forestry as CIO and spent summers supporting fires on the Incident Management Team.

JEFF FRKONJA

Jeff Frkonja is Metro's Research Center Director, a former Oregon Geographic Information Council chair, and the current OGIC regional government representative.  He has spent more than two decades working in and for the public sector on data development, GIS systems, decision-support analytics, and information ​governance.  In his spare time he enjoys using his spatial senses to navigate the awesome outdoor opportunities in the Pacific Northwest.

COLLEEN MILLER