USGIF Names Roberta “Bobbi” Lenczowski as the 2013 Arthur C. Lundahl - Thomas C. Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Tampa, Florida (PRWEB) April 17, 2014 -- This morning, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) announced Roberta “Bobbi” Lenczowski as the recipient of the USGIF Arthur C. Lundahl–Thomas C. Finnie Lifetime Achievement Award. She received her award this morning during the GEOINT 2013* Symposium general session. Lenczowski is the 10th and first female recipient of the award.
“Any lifetime achievement award evokes reflections, and there are many upfront and background facilitators to thank for their support,” said Lenczowski. “Such an important award could simply be a memorable way to conclude decades of endeavor. However, for me, this award is a reminder that we must continue to pay it forward as mentors and advocates, following the example of both Art Lundahl and Tom Finnie.”
Lenczowski is an independent geospatial information-intelligence consultant who spent 28 years in the public sector. She retired in 2005 from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), where she finished her NGA career as executive director of NGA Campus West in St. Louis. During her tenure in Washington, D.C., Lenczowski served three years as NGA’s technical executive, and was also director of operations with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) for more than five years. She also served as president of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Currently, Lenczowski is serving her second appointment representing NGA on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing. Previously, she represented NGA on the Department of the Interior’s National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive Advisory Committee, and the Security Affairs Support Association.
The Lundahl-Finnie award recipient is nominated and voted on by the USGIF Board of Directors. Board members chose Lenczowski for inspiring the Global Geospatial Integrated Data Environment concept, which ultimately led to the standup of the Global Geospatial Integrated Product Team and creation of NIMA Production Cells—the first use of commercial-off-the-shelf workstations for the GEOINT mission. This accomplishment led to the Integrated Exploitation Capability. USGIF’s Board of Directors said Lenczowski continues to show dedication to the GEOINT Community and the furtherance of research and development around geospatial data management.
During the award presentation, former USGIF Chairman of the Board Stu Shea also announced the award’s renaming to include recognition of Thomas C. Finnie. This distinguished award now recognizes contributions made by both Arthur C. Lundahl and Thomas C. Finnie, and celebrates their accomplishments—in imagery analysis and mapping, respectively—and their legacy within the GEOINT Community.
“Geospatial intelligence was borne, not out of whole cloth, but by combining extant disciplines of imagery, imagery intelligence, and mapping, charting, and geodesy (MC&G) into a single, unified intelligence discipline,” Shea said. “Art Lundahl and Tom Finnie were both luminaries who ultimately set the standard against which all others were measured with their vision and execution of the imagery and MC&G disciplines that formed the foundation for GEOINT today."
Thomas C. Finnie’s career with the U.S. government began in 1937, practicing engineering and surveying with the Department of Agriculture. In 1962, he assumed the position of technical director for the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center in Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, and was one of the initial eight Department of Defense planners who assisted in organizing the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) in 1972. Later, Finnie became DMA’s director of management and technology. DMA consolidated the broad disciplines of MC&G and helped to promulgate its evolution to digital geospatial information. Finnie was one of the primary architects of DMA’s evolution to a digital era.
Arthur C. Lundahl is known as the “father of modern imagery analysis and imagery intelligence” for his work as the founder and first director of the National Photographic Interpretation Center. Under Lundahl’s leadership, NPIC’s role to support the CIA’s deputy director of intelligence transformed the center into a national-level component of the Intelligence Community, and demonstrated image intelligence as a prime strategic and tactical resource worldwide.
About USGIF
USGIF is a non-profit educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community with government, industry, academia, professional organizations and individuals who develop and apply geospatial intelligence to address national security challenges. USGIF’s mission is to build the community, advance the tradecraft and accelerate innovation. The GEOINT Symposium is hosted annually by USGIF. For more information, please visit http://www.USGIF.org and follow USGIF on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
Kristin Quinn, USGIF, http://www.usgif.org, +1 7033506753, [email protected]
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