Charting the Future
Officers - Executive Committee
Chair: Stephen Swazee Sr., CAPT USNR (Ret.), Eagan, Minnesota
Term Ends: December 31, 2025
Steve is a retired Navy Captain and Delta Air Lines pilot who chairs the Emergency Preparedness Committee of the Minnesota Geospatial Advisory Council (MGAC). He also currently serves on the Public X Y Mapping Project Board of Directors - originator of the U.S. National Grid (USNG) geospatial standard - and was previously a member of the Minnesota Statewide Geospatial Advisory Council, and the Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA) Board of Directors. During Hurricanes Katrina, Ophelia, Rita and Wilma in 2005, he was recalled to active duty to serve as the senior Department of Defense (DoD) Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer at the Pentagon. He was subsequently a by-name appointment to the DHS-DoD post-Katrina data work group charged with developing a national Common Operating Picture (COP) which can be used by all levels of responders and decision makers. Through these diverse experiences, Steve became convinced of the need for a nationally standardized way of communicating location in emergencies and disasters through use of USNG.
Contact: chair@usngi.org
Secretary: Randy Knippel, GIS Manager, Dakota County, Minnesota
Term Ends: December 31, 2026
Randy is GIS Manager at Dakota County, Minnesota where he has worked since 1994. He has been involved in a variety of activities related to implementing the U.S. National Grid. He serves on several committees for MetroGIS and MnGeo, including the Emergency Preparedness Committee. He has over 35 years of experience in geographic information science including cartography, photogrammetry, database design, programming, GIS analysis, and project management. He is a well-known USNG instructor in the Upper Midwest for the significant number of presentations he has given over the past 15 years to personnel in the GIS and Emergency Services Sector communities of the region.
Treasurer: BJ Kohlstedt, Retired Emergency Management Director, Lake County, Minnesota
Term Ends: December 31, 2024
As the Emergency Management Director for Lake County, MN, in 2011, BJ joined efforts to develop the nation’s first USNG based Emergency Location Marker (ELM) program, which has since spread throughout the nation. As she served for 18 years on the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Squad, she understood the need for simple and accurate geolocation during emergency response, especially in areas that don’t have street addresses. With an M.Ed. in Education and leadership in Incident Management, BJ now assists the non-profit SharedGeo in training dispatchers and emergency responders in the use of USNG to improve response and save lives.
Finance Committee Chair
At-Large Board Members
Cole Brown, Senior Safety Management Specialist, Selective Insurance, Hampstead, Maryland
Term Ends: December 31, 2025
In addition to his indepth understanding of risk management in the insurance industry, Cole Brown's experience in the Emergency Services Sector is both expansive and unique. His background includes service to the nation in the following capacities:
- Volunteer firefighter/EMT,
- Search Manager, Maryland State Police Special Operations Division,
- Captain, Civil Air Patrol (CAP), Maryland Wing,
- Member, CAP National Geographic Information Systems Team,
- Search and Rescue Instructor, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and
- Adjunct Facility - Emergency Health Services, University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
From this viewpoint of experience, Cole is a passionate supporter of the U.S. National Grid.
Finance Committee Member
Bernard Catalinotto, President, MyMapBook, LLC, Mill Valley, California
Term Ends: December 31, 2025
Bernard Catalinotto is a GIS data conversion manager and map publisher. He has converted road, hydro and other map data for Thomas Brothers Maps and the U.S. Census Bureau, and for many state agencies and major utilities. He published dozens of detail-level map atlases for Thomas Brothers Maps and their government and real estate clients, including the first U.S. Atlas for GPS for Trimble Navigation. He has published dozens of community map books based on the U.S. National Grid for the various communities in his home state of California. Bernard came to mapping from urban planning, including master planning, site selection and site analysis for US and overseas public agencies and the private sector. He has degrees in math from Columbia, regional planning from Cornell and a Fulbright fellowship in Italy.
Finance Committee Member
Michael Core, Application Developer Designer, Florida Resources and Environmental Analysis Center (FREAC), Flordia State University, Tallahassee, Florida
Term Ends: December 31, 2024
Michael Core is a Ph.D. student at Florida State University (FSU), Department of Earth, Oceans, and Atmospheric Sciences. He holds a Geographic Information Science (GIS) Administration, M.S., from the University of West Florida, a B.A. in Geography, and a minor in Geology from the University of Colorado. He has extensive knowledge of GIS, geography, geology, remote sensing, utility energy modeling, cadastral records, storm-impact modeling, change detection, and land classification. His community activities include environmental cleanup initiatives, community outreach and education concerning sustainability, and coaching youth sports. Michael also has extensive working knowledge of the Esri products.
Fennis Reed, Research Specialist, Demographic Research Unit, California Department of Finance, Sacramento, California
Term Ends: December 31, 2024
Fennis Reed (they / them) received their MSc in Applied Geography from the University of Louisville while working in geospatial roles for WorldPop and Public Utilities. Currently, they are invested in expanding the use of the U.S. National Grid within the state of California, which often relies on multiple geographic projections for different parts of the state. Their continued work on small area human population estimates features the USNG to deliver spatially consistent estimates and introduce USNG to State and local industries.
Lieutenant Al Studt, Communications & Structures Specialist, Florida Task Force 4 Urban Search & Rescue Team, Winter Park, Florida
Term Ends: December 31, 2026
Al Studt, CFPS, CET, StS-1, is an instructor, author, integrator and promoter of USNG since 2007 when tornadoes were sweeping across Florida. While readying for deployment with FL-TF4 Urban Search & Rescue Team, he discovered that the State of Florida Fire Marshal's office was recommending USNG. There was nothing to use at that time; no maps, applications, policies, tools, etc. Since then Al has assisted in the creation of USNG applications, mapping software and training programs in the realm of emergency services in Florida to include holding the first series of USNG Implementation meetings annually at the Fire-Rescue East convention for multiple years. He has instructed USNG courses in multiple states, for various agencies or organizations as well as at home in Brevard County, Florida. He was awarded funds to place Emergency Location Markers on Kennedy Space Center where he is a Lead Engineer in Fire & Protective Systems. Most recently he facilitated USNG maps for Canaveral Fire Rescue where he is a Lieutenant/EMT. As of 2023, Al will have 40 years in the volunteer fire service in two states.