Meet the TECTERRA Awards Judges!

Meet Brad. He’s the Customer Success Manager at SOLV3D and acts as the President of the Alberta Society of Surveying and Mapping Technologies, an organization who certifies technical professionals in the geospatial industry.

Brad Ashley has volunteered his time previously with several other geospatial organizations. During his 9 years with the AGG, he was President of the organization for two years and started an annual GIS Day event. Brad spent 6 years with the GeoAlberta Conference Committee this is his second year as a TECTERRA Awards judge.

Say hi to Dave Parsell. Dave is co-founder of Localintel, an award-winning government technology company helping economic developers succeed.

Dave's professional background includes senior roles in consulting and local government where he specialized in economic development and strategic planning. Dave's career also includes roles with Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Bank of Scotland and the Australian Army.

Dave joins the Judging Panel after winning the Startup of the Year category in 2019.

Here’s Kate! She’s a Graduate Student in Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary specializing in Digital Imaging.

Kate Pexman was among the top three highest ranking students in the department academically, a positive role model for many female students in science and engineering, a mentor to many first-year engineering students and is a graduate student herself.

Kate won the 2019 TECTERRA Award for Student Leadership in Geospatial and has joined the judging panel for the first time to encourage recognition amongst students.

Meet Katy Conti. Katy is the Marketing Specialist at Lim Geomatics and has cultivated a varied communications skillset that includes graphic design, brand development and strategic marketing collateral deployment.

She has a degree in business administration from Mount Royal University, where she played a leadership role in several extracurricular projects, one of which entailed pitching the U.S. State Department on a public education campaign to help prevent violent extremism. Katy enjoys Calgary’s entrepreneurial energy and the nearby mountains, but her heart belongs to Taormina, a small town on Italy’s Sicilian coast and where her family is originally from. This is Katy’s first year on the Judging Panel.

Introducing Landra Trevis! She’s the Partner and General Manager for Melton Design. As a professional engineer her career has focused on small to medium sized engineering companies and start-ups where she has over 15 years business development experience specializing in the land survey, photogrammetry, LiDAR, and drone industries.

Landra has significant geomatics board experience including 4 years on the University of Calgary’s Geomatics Engineering Advisory Committee (2 years as Chair), 7 years on SAIT’s Geomatics Advisory Committee (current Chair), and 3 years as a member of TECTERRA’s Project Advisory Committee.

Now as a new business owner Landra is using her business development skills and in-depth understanding of engineering to grow an interior design firm with a unique approach to the industry.

Say hi to Mark. Mark manages a team of senior digital solution architects to deliver advanced technologies to various business groups at Syncrude. Mark Sombach is a technology expert in areas including IoT, Image Recognition, Voice Recognition, AI, Digital Twin, AR/VR, Drones, Robotics, RPAs etc.

He conducts extensive research for digital innovation technologies and works with business groups to experiment and commercialize. He has long-lasting support for start-ups and act as a digital innovation SME to venture capital companies. Mark frequently speaks on technology topics at corporate events, and this is his second year as a TECTERRA Awards Judge.

Here’s Sean Greenwood! He’s the founder of Canadian UAVs and previously competed at the Olympic level as a skeleton racer. Sean is a commercial helicopter and unmanned systems pilot with many years of experience in the sky. He led change in the aviation sector by executing the first contract for beyond visual line of sight UAV operations in Canada.

Sean holds the 2019 TECTERRA Award for Influencer of the Year and is participating on the Judging Panel for the first time.

Meet Dr. Steve Liang. Dr. Liang is a researcher, teacher, and entrepreneur. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Geomatics Engineering at the University of Calgary and director of the GeoSensorWeb Laboratory.

Dr. Liang is also the founder and CTO of SensorUp Inc, a Calgary startup company. SensorUp offers a Data Exchange Platform based on International Open Standards for the Internet of Things. This is Steve’s second year as a TECTERRA Awards Judge.

Say hi to Tammy! Tammy Peterson is the Chief Revenue Officer at SOLV3D. Tammy's professional experience has focused on the areas of sales, marketing and channel strategy & development. She has worked in a broad range of industries but entered the geospatial realm in 2007 and for over a decade managed Valtus Imagery Services (a division of North West Geomatics), building the Data as a Service (DaaS) business and its sales channel, which would ultimately become the HxGN Content Program, once North West was acquired by Hexagon in 2014.

Tammy is the current president of the Alberta Geomatics Group (AGG) and this is her second year participating on the Judging Panel.