2023 Board Nominees

 Stacy Curry-Johnson - Vanderbilt University

Stacy Curry-Johnson is the Geospatial Librarian and GIS Lecturer at Vanderbilt University, where she serves as a geospatial consultant to researchers, faculty, and students.  She also focuses on geospatial education and GIS curriculum development.  Stacy is originally from North Carolina and received her BS in Geography from Appalachian State University, a MS in Geographic and Cartographic Sciences from George Mason University, and a PhD in Geography from University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Prior to Vanderbilt, Stacy was a Remote Sensing Scientist for the USGS at both the Reston, VA and Lakewood, CO offices. In her role at Vanderbilt, Stacy has worked on projects such as the Battle of Nashville Mapping project (Co-PI), the creation of the first South Asian historical digital atlas, exploring the geographic relationships of Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE) in veterans with environmental determinants, creation of a mobile GIS for an Antarctic Research Expedition, and environmental justice mapping in Grundy County, TN to name a few. Stacy is also the instructor/lecturer in the Anthropology department at Vanderbilt for the Introduction to GIS and Remote Sensing course. She also creates a new workshop series every semester with her collaborator, Natalie Robbins. Stacy is passionate about advancing geospatial education, research, and getting others excited about GIS.   Important issues that she is championing include community outreach, new member engagement and retention, and increasing inclusion of diverse voices in the field.  In her non-mapping time Stacy enjoys catering to her two cats, Laney and Puddy.

Chad Howard - Henry County 911

Chad Howard was born in Clarksville TN in 1970 and moved to Paris TN at the age of three with his family. He received his first computer on September 22, 1982, on his birthday which means he can track his career back to that day. Her started writing computer code for programs that his middle school used with that computer. He has built and maintained many different computer and operating systems over the 41 years of his career.

In 1997 he joined the Paris Police Department as a 911 dispatcher and worked in that position for 12 years. He then took a job for the Paris Post-Intelligencer newspaper as a webmaster and assistant IT manager. After working eight years in that position Henry County 911 Emergency Communications District called him back needing a full time IT person to help implement NextGen 911 systems for Henry County. He has served in this capacity ever since.

NextGen and Enhanced 911 relies heavily on GIS mapping to function properly and since his boss said, “Well with all this computer experience GIS should be easy.” Famous last words. Chad soon found out that GIS was a very intensive skill and began taking classes, first in ESRI and then later transitioning to OpenSource GIS utilizing QGIS.

Today with the help of Randal Hale they have built a PostGIS, PostgreSQL server that also runs GeoServer in full Linux mode and is the first Non-ESRI 911 district to send automated GIS updates daily to the State of Tennessee Repository fully automated using only opensource.

Chad is a private pilot and a commercial drone pilot, a ham operator (K4CWH) and enjoys golf and building his tiny house for his lovely wife although he will admit he is no carpenter, and it is taking many more years than it should.

Jeff Jackson - Allworld Project Management

Jeff brings more than 28 years of experience in business management and GIS roles. As a GIS Specialist for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) his focus was on water quality issues, including providing applications related to data acquired by the EPA. His efforts allowed researchers the ability to gain easy access to data, visual aids, and metadata.  He then served as the Enterprise GIS Team Lead for the City of Memphis, Information Technology Division for several years.  As EGIS Team Lead, he worked with numerous divisions/departments providing GIS data management/modeling, analysis, application development, and project management.

Currently, Jeff is a Senior Project Manager at Allworld Project Management serving as the Administrator of GIS Services.  He is responsible for overseeing all AWPM GIS programs/projects and supports an end-to-end system to capture and utilize GIS content, making it accessible using Esri Enterprise GIS solutions. His main goal is to support the AWPM geospatial environment that will enable the GIS Team, partners, and clients to perform cost-conscious and effective Esri mapping research and analysis with state-of-the-industry geospatial tools and services.

Andrew Pericak - TDOT IT GIS

Andrew Pericak (he/him/his) is a GIS Analyst in the Information Technology Division of the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). In this role, he provides GIS assistance, development, and support for TDOT employees across the state and leads TDOT’s training efforts in GIS. A lifelong resident of the Southeast, Andrew earned a Master of Environmental Management degree and a Certificate in Geospatial Analysis from Duke University in 2016 and an undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond in 2013. In addition to being a champion for GIS, Andrew enjoys exploring Tennessee’s State Parks, baking buttermilk biscuits, and speedrunning the New York Times crossword.

 Blake Sartin - Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority

Blake Sartin is the GIS Manager for the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, which manages both McGhee Tyson (TYS) and Downtown Island (DKX) Airports. He has held this position since 2006. Previously he was the GIS Manager for the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (2001-2006) and also worked for the University of Tennessee’s Center for Transportation Research (1996-2001). He graduated from the University of Tennessee Knoxville with a B.A. in Geography in 1996 and was part of the inaugural class of GISP certifications in 2003.

Blake has worked in the past as organizer of the Geography Network of East Tennessee (GeoNET) from 2006-2016. His hope is to restart this group in the near future. He enjoys attending the ESRI User Conference as well as TNGIC events. Blake is also one of the few GIS Professionals certified by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE).  He also regularly guest lectures on GIS concepts for the Civil Engineering students at UTK.

Blake lives outside Maryville, TN with his wife of 27 years, three kids, two dogs, and a fluctuating number of chickens. If you could find his house, you would probably find him on the tractor or repairing something mechanical. Blake and his wife also enjoy live music and travelling to see their college-aged kids.