Incoming ASPRS President Thomas Lillesand, who chaired the search committee that selected Plasker, echoed the enthusiasm over Plaskers appointment. He said, “Jim Plasker is ideally suited to ASPRS’s ‘New Vision’ for the geospatial information profession and industry. We sought an executive director who would reflect our members and our elected officers enterprise philosophy of maximizing the partnership among government, the private sector, and academia in ASPRS programs. We see geospatial imaging and information as an increasingly pervasive global force throughout science, government, and business and want ASPRS to help shape, implement, and constantly improve the application of geospatial information for the broadest societal and commercial benefits possible. Reaching these goals not only creates substantial commercial opportunities for our industry and profession, it is also a key to aiding world society in meeting the long-term challenges it faces.”
Plasker brings to his new position a rich mix of professional experience, volunteer service to professional organizations, and involvement in geospatial information policy issues at the national level. He has more than 25 years of technical, managerial, and executive leadership experience with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), including six years in the Senior Executive Service. During his career with USGS he served in a broad range of capacities, including: chief of the Technology Office and chief of the Mapping Control Operations in the Rocky Mountain Mapping Center; assistant chief for Production Operations and associate chief of the National Mapping Division; and most recently, as associate chief geologist for Operations in the Geologic Division.
During his tenure as assistant division chief for Production Operations at USGS he was instrumental in the interagency effort to reinvent the National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) and, working closely with colleagues in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the private sector, led the initial development of the National Digital Orthophoto Program. He also has been very active in recent national geospatial information policy issues such as the National Academy of Public Administration study on U.S. Geographic Information Resources, and the multi-organizational Task Force on the Model Law on Surveying.
Plasker has held many volunteer leadership positions within ASPRS, the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (including recent presidency of that organization), the International Federation of Surveyors, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Pan American Institute for Geography and History. He holds a B.S. in civil engineering and an M.S. in engineering surveys from Oregon State University and is a registered Professional Engineer. Plasker, his wife Teresa, and son Michael, live in Oak Hill, Virginia.
Plasker succeeds William D. French, who had been ASPRS executive director
for the past 20 years.
Copyright © 1999 American Society
for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing
5410 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 210, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-2160
http://www.asprs.org,
for assistance select here.
(19 January 1999)