Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services, announced that Keri Brennan, GISP, Product Manager for the firm’s public safety geographic information systems (GIS) business, has been elected to the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA) Board of Directors. URISA is a multi-disciplinary geospatial organization providing professional education and training, a network of geospatial professionals and resources and advocacy for geospatial challenges and issues. Ms. Brennan will serve as president-elect for one year, and her term as president will begin in October 2019 following the conclusion of GIS-Pro 2019, URISA’s annual conference.
As a member of the Board of Directors, Ms. Brennan and her fellow board members will guide the association and its members in the geospatial profession. The Board of Directors advocates on behalf of the membership in areas such as the Census Project, an ad hoc coalition of organizations that support a fair and accurate decennial census and comprehensive American Community Survey and weigh in on both state and federal laws that are being developed that may impact the geospatial profession.
Additionally, the Board of Directors works with the strategic plan for URISA to implement projects that will meet the primary goals of sustaining and strengthening the organization; promoting, protecting and growing the GIS profession; and support GIS professionals at all stages of their career with essential training and resources.
As president-elect, Ms. Brennan will spearhead the strategic planning initiatives for 2018-2019, along with Board members from each class of board elections from the past three years.
“It is my extreme pleasure to serve the URISA membership,” said Ms. Brennan. “I have been a part of the amazing GIS and geospatial communities since the early 90s and active in URISA since 2005. Much of my professional success can be directly attributed to my activities with URISA.”
Ms. Brennan is a Product Manager for Michael Baker’s public safety GIS business and its suite of DATAMARK® products and services. In her role, she works with the development team and with clients on implementing NG9-1-1 GIS solutions for local governments.
Based in Indianapolis, Ind., Ms. Brennan joined Michael Baker in 2017. With more than 25 years of GIS experience in various areas of geospatial data development, consulting and training, she has worked in many disciplines including forestry, mining, land records and public safety. She has worked as a GIS consultant for local government and a product manager for a damage assessment application that combined GIS, assessors and emergency management data into a single-source application for collecting damage assessment information after natural and man-made disasters. She has spent much of her career working with clients in an education and training capacity, to empower and enable application users to be self-sufficient and enabled to efficiently maintain their own GIS information.
Ms. Brennan has been an active member of URISA since 2005. She has sat on the Board of Directors since 2016 and has also volunteered her time as Board Liaison to the URISA GIS Leadership Academy, a member of the Annual Conference Committee, a URISA Certified Workshop Instructor and a member of the NextGen 9-1-1 Task Force. She is also a member of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA).
About Michael Baker International
Michael Baker International is a leading provider of engineering and consulting services, including design, planning, architectural, environmental, construction and program management. The company provides its comprehensive range of services and solutions to support U.S. federal, state, and municipal governments, foreign allied governments, and a wide range of commercial clients. Michael Baker’s more than 3,000 employees across nearly 100 locations are committed to a culture of innovation, collaboration and technological advancement to help solve challenges for clients and communities throughout the country. To learn more, visit www.mbakerintl.com.
