The Advisory Council helps shape the organization’s long-term strategy: offering advice, supporting fundraising efforts, and supplementing the organization’s core knowledge on matters like finance, law, politics, geospatial technology, and community engagement.
Like the Board, serving on the Advisory Council is a volunteer position and is not compensated by OpenStreetMap US. Unlike the Board, Advisory Council members are appointed (not elected), and have no official decision-making power or fiduciary responsibility for the organization.
Advisory Council members are nominated by the Executive Director and approved by the Board of Directors on a rolling basis. Members are chosen based on their professional experience, roles, or expertise in the OSM & geospatial communities. Members are asked to serve a minimum of a 2-year term, with a limit of 4 years of service before a 1-year break.
Current advisors
Bill Dollins is the founder and President at Cercana Systems, a boutique consultancy providing strategic and technical geospatial expertise to organizations in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
Brandon Liu is a cartographic technologist and open-source developer, founder of Protomaps, and creator of PMTiles and SliceOSM, who brings expertise in cloud-native map infrastructure and innovative approaches to delivering and visualizing OpenStreetMap data.
Carrie Stokes has worked in international development, geospatial technology, and the environment for thirty years. Most recently, she served as the Chief Geographer at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) headquarters in Washington, DC.
Dr. Diane Fritz is an associate scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado and teaches remote sensing at the University of Colorado. She holds a PhD in geological sciences. Her avocations can be described as “anything outdoors.”
Kevin Pomfret, a seasoned attorney based in Washington, D.C., navigates the complex legal and policy intricacies surrounding geospatial information and other types of data, including AI, data privacy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property, as well as national security.
Dr. Lee Schwartz is the former Geographer of the Department of State and Director of its Office of the Geographer and Global Issues in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
