Geographers without Borders

Raquel’s unique blend of strategic marketing, community engagement, and commitment to servant leadership makes her a standout in the GIS and geospatial field with a passion for elevating the next generation in GIS.
Raquel Pérez is a marketing leader with over 13 years at Esri, where she currently serves as Senior Industry Marketing Manager for the National Government - developing high-impact marketing strategies.
A staunch advocate for servant leadership and community engagement, Raquel founded and continues to lead the Esri Young Professionals Network (YPN), a global initiative aimed at empowering early-career GIS professionals through networking, mentoring, and career development. She’s also the driving force behind Esri’s annual GIS Day celebrations;  serves on the Women in GIS Mentor Committee; is a proud member of Latinas in Tech, and LatinaGeeks.
Raquel holds an M.A. in Management from the University of Redlands and a certificate in Crime & Intelligence Analysis from UC Riverside—credentials that reflect her early work as a crime analyst and her enduring interest in data-driven solutions.
Her impact is recognized both internally and across the geospatial community. Colleagues applaud her dedication and recently Jack Dangermond, owner and CEO of Esri personally acknowledged her on the 10th anniversary of YPN and making it a success!
Outside of work, Raquel channels her creativity into gardening, event planning, home décor, and spending time with her kiddos. She’s an avid traveler—particularly drawn to Iceland, Peru, and Switzerland—and finds balance in exploring cultures and landscapes.

Join us to talk with Women in GIS outgoing President Sam Dinning about what WiGIS accomplished in 2024 and what's in store for 2025!

Jami Dennis has over thirty years of experience in GIS, socio-economic research, data analytics, and data visualization. She has been a GISP for 20 years and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the GIS Certification Institute. She has worked in both state and regional government. She now owns her own small consulting firm where she works on GIS, data analysis, and data visualization projects. Her currentpassion is using data visualization techniques to communicate complicated subjects. Outside of work, Jami is an avid camper, hiker, and occasionally good mountain biker.

Erica Poisson has 10+ years of experience in GIS, data management, project ideation and management. She currently serves as secretary on the Northeast Arc User Group board of directors, and has been heavily involved in that community since her election to the board in 2020. In her current position as the GIS Coordinator for Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation's Division of Water Supply Protection, she leads a small team of GIS analysts and helps further GIS within both the agency and the broader Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs secretariat. Her current focus is accessibility in GIS and helping to lay the groundwork for ensuring the secretariat is able to meet new ADA Title II and WCAG 2.1 AA requirements by April 2026. Outside of work,Erica loves to garden, read, hike and spend time on her Peloton bike.

Dr. Sapana Lohani is a geospatial data scientist at the Institute for Integrative Conservation at the College of William and Mary. Sapana started her work in Nepal, helping to publish The Earth Preservation, and supported the Asia Pacific Mountain Network through engaging content generation. Sapana’s current endeavors have led her to connect with local elementary schools to help young students and women reconnect with nature and explore interdisciplinary careers centered around the environment. Her program is exclusively taught by women, and while she manages and facilitates, she is also responsible for the geospatial portion. Sapana is passionate about conservation and using geospatial technologies to illustrate the need for support as well as to illustrate successful changes made. Sapana has Bachelor and Master Degrees in Environmental Science from Tribhuvan University, a Masters Degree in Natural Resource Management from Asian Institute of Technology, and a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Arizona.

Claire is an OG photogrammetrist, passionate about geospatial technology and digital mapping. She founded KAPPA Mapping in 2003, and currently leads CornerstoneEnergy Services to new markets with her expertise and breadth of knowledge and skills. Claire is an American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing certified photogrammetrist, which is taking photographs and very precise measurements to create 3D models of objects and environments. Claire started in surveying and engineering and will talk about her journey as the technology advances came faster and faster since her beginning. Claire has a Bachelor of Science in Surveying Engineering from the University of Maine and currently resides in Bangor, ME.

Carley has more than 15 years experience in the geosciences and specializes in emergency management. She leads the management of a county-wide enterprise GIS system, providing crucial support during emergencies such as Hurricane Dorian (2019), the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Ian (2022), Hurricane Nicole (2022), and most recently Hurricane Milton. Carley facilitates important information dissemination to her county using GIS, creating dashboards and using tools like Survey123 to capture citizen damage assessments after storm events. She is a strong advocate for direct GIS involvement in emergency management as a mitigation to data gaps and information silos. Carley is a GISP and has a Bachelor of Science in Geography from Florida Atlantic University.

Carley has more than 15 years experience in the geosciences and specializes in emergency management. She leads the management of a county-wide enterprise GIS system, providing crucial support during emergencies such as Hurricane Dorian (2019), the COVID-19 pandemic, Hurricane Ian (2022), Hurricane Nicole (2022), and most recently Hurricane Milton. Carley facilitates important information dissemination to her county using GIS, creating dashboards and using tools like Survey123 to capture citizen damage assessments after storm events. She is a strong advocate for direct GIS involvement in emergency management as a mitigation to data gaps and information silos. Carley is a GISP and has a Bachelor of Science in Geography from Florida Atlantic University.

Kat James is the founder of Four Hundred Feet, a social enterprise that helps individuals and organizations leverage drone technology to amplify impact in the global health,

Previously, Kat was a GIS specialist working on global health projects, which ranged from designing a maternal health data dashboard for the Ministry of Health in Ghana to mapping thousands of villages in Liberia and Zambia to see how far women must travel to access reproductive healthcare services.

Kat has a Bachelors of Art in Geography and Global Health from Middlebury College and a Masters in Public Health and Information Science from the University of Michigan. Kat is also a Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Certified Remote Pilot and Certified Part 107 Remote Pilot, and serves on the advisory boards of the Commercial UAV Expo’s Path the Leadership Scholarship Program and DroneDeploy’s Resilient Futures Grant Program.

Jazzmen is an experienced GIS Technician and geospatial

Swati is a professor, consultant, founder, and leader