New CGIO and MnGeo Director: Alison Slaats
Alison Slaats is the State of Minnesota's new Chief Geospatial Information Officer and MnGeo's new director. She takes over these positions from Dan Ross who moved on to new opportunities at the beginning of this year.
Alison has over 25 years of experience in the GIS field in Minnesota. She has worked in the public, private, nonprofit, and educational sectors including working for Esri, the Metropolitan Council, Envision Minnesota, Anoka-Ramsey Community College, and most recently for Minnesota IT Services (MNIT). During her time at MNIT, Alison worked for MNIT partnering with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Board of Animal Health, and more recently at MnGeo as a GIS Supervisor.
In 2019, Alison was recognized with a Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium Polaris Leadership Award for her contributions to the geospatial community in Minnesota. She has been the Consortium's Treasurer since 2019.
She received a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MS degree specializing in GIS from the University of South Carolina. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and travelling. Her husband Jan is a fellow geographer, so their kids have been known to complain about too much map talk!
Alison is looking forward to continuing MnGeo’s work with the geospatial community to improve geospatial technology and services and to foster collaboration. She is excited to focus on sharing foundational geospatial datasets on the Minnesota Geospatial Commons and through web services.
Congratulations to Alison on her new roles!
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