Mary G. Altalo
Directior - Ocean.US, the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations

Dr. Mary G. Altalo received her A.B. in environmental biology from Smith College and her Ph.D. in biology/oceanography from The Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Altalo comes to Ocean.US from The Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education (CORE). Prior to that, she served as the Chief Scientist for Enterprise Solutions at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). She also holds a visiting fellowship in the Department of Statistics at the London School of Economics (LSE). She formerly was Deputy Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Associate Vice Chancellor for Marine Science at the University of California, San Diego. She has served as program manager for biological oceanography at the Office of Naval Research and as associate program director for biological oceanography at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Altalo is the Vice Chair of the Intergovernmental IOC-WMO-UNEP Committee for the Global Ocean Observing System (I-GOOS), and also serves as the Director of the IOC UNESCO Business Programs for Observing Systems at the LSE. She has authored and co-authored numerous scientific articles and technical reports as well as outreach articles in trade journals.

Milo Robinson- FGDC

The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an interagency committee that promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. This nationwide data publishing effort is known as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). The NSDI is a physical, organizational, and virtual network designed to enable the development and sharing of this nation's digital geographic information resources. FGDC activities are administered through the FGDC Secretariat, hosted by the National Geospatial Programs Office (NGPO) of the U.S. Geological Survey. The NGPO oversees other geospatial programs of national importance including The National Map and the Geospatial One-Stop activity.

Denis Poliquin - Geoconnections

GeoConnections is a national partnership program to evolve and expand the Canadian Geospatial Data Infrastructure (CGDI). The CGDI provides Canadians with on-demand access to geographic information (e.g. maps, satellite images) and related services and applications in support of sound decision making.

Denis Poliquin joined the GeoConnections Secretariat in November 2003 as the Project Officer for Federal Partnerships. He brings broad academic experience in geography, geomatics, and information systems management. Denis helps to coordinate federal geomatics activities, mainly by working with the Inter-Agency Committee on Geomatics.

After consulting on strategic geomatics planning in the private sector, Denis joined the Geomatics Professional Development Program (GPDP) of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). There he acquired skills in various disciplines of geomatics within NRCan and Environment Canada.

Denis then joined the Centre for Research in Regional Planning and Development (CRAD) of Université Laval as a research professional. In this post he initiated and coordinated projects with contractors in the geospatial technology sector. In 2003, Denis joined GeoConnections as a member of the new Policy and Partnership Development team.

Greg Buehler - Open Geospatial Consortium (invited)

For the past 10 years, Greg Buehler has overseen Field Operations for the Open Geospatial Consortium, including IT, communications, and meeting and event support. In 2006, Mr. Buehler served as Chair of the GITA Annual Conference and lead a highly successful Interoperability Demonstration based upon events surrounding the City of Tampa.

Mr. Buehler's prior careers where in banking, as a branch manager, securities agent, and loan officer for a large regional bank, and an Officer in the United States Army.

Greg holds a BS in Managerial Finance (Field of Study) from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Dave McIlhagga - DM Solutions Group (invited)

Dave McIlhagga is the President of DM Solutions Group Inc., a company which, in addition to leading, he also founded in 1998. Dave has positioned DM Solutions Group as the leading provider of commercial products and services to the open source web mapping community, and premiere web mapping solutions provider to key vertical markets.

As the president of DM Solutions Group, one of Dave's key roles is fostering alliances and key partnerships both in North America and internationally. Dave is a Board member of the newly formed Open Source GeoSpatial Foundation and an active contributor to the open source geospatial movement.

Prior to founding DM Solutions Group, Dave was a leading developer of one of the industry's first web mapping technologies at TYDAC Research. Dave graduated from Carleton University with an Honours Bachelor's degree in Geography, concentrating in Geographic Information Processing.

Dr. Philip Bogden - GoMoos and SURA SCOOP

SURA Coastal Ocean Observing Program (SCOOP); Acting Director Gulf of Main Observing System (GoMOOS); CEO

Dr. Bogden is Acting Director of the SURA Coastal Ocean Observing Program (SCOOP). He is directing the coastal research initiative to create a robust integrated data grid linking coastal ocean observations along the entire east coast from Maine to Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

In addition to serving with SCOOP, Dr. Bogden is the CEO of GoMOOS, the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System. GoMOOS is a national program designed to bring hourly oceanographic data from the Gulf of Maine to all those who need it. He is leading several projects that will augment GoMOOS activities by establishing new levels of interoperability between ocean observing systems and federal agencies.

Previously, Dr. Bogden held faculty positions at Yale University and The University of Connecticut. His research specialities are coastal oceanography and data assimilation.

Carrol Hood - Chief GEOSS Architect, Raytheon Corporation

Mr. Hood has a BS in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina, a MS in Marine Science/Physical Oceanography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and two additional years of post-graduate study of Physical Oceanography/Oceanographic Remote Sensing from Florida State University. He started his professional career as an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington, DC, and also served as the Director of the US Global Change Research Information Office (GCRIO).

Currently, he works at Raytheon in Aurora, CO as a systems engineer and Raytheon’s Chief Architect for the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and a certified Enterprise Architect. He serves as the Industry representative to the IOOS Data Management and Communication Subsystem (DMAC) Steering Team, serves on the Executive Committee for the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA), and is a member of the Science Advisory Committee for the Carolina Coastal Ocean Observing and Prediction System (CARO-COOPS).