Barbara J. RYAN

World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC) • Executive Director

Under Barbara Ryan’s leadership, millions of satellite images and other Earth observation data have been made available to the general public at no charge, allowing scientists, planners and policy makers to make better-informed decisions on problems that transcend political boundaries. Her work addresses critical issues in agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, disaster planning, energy, health and water.

Barbara career began in 1974 when she joined the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the nation’s largest natural resource science and civilian mapping agency. She advanced steadily in the USGS, earning master’s degrees in geography from the University of Denver and in civil engineering from Stanford University. As associate director for geography at the USGS, she was responsible for the agency’s remote sensing, geography and civilian mapping programmes, including the Landsat satellites. From 2008 to 2012, she was Director of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Space Programme, and from 2012 to 2018, Ryan was the Secretariat Director of the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in Geneva, Switzerland. In January of 2021, Barbara became the second Executive Director of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), a not-for-profit trade association of private-sector companies working in the geospatial and Earth observation ecosystem – a position she still holds today.

Ryan has served as chair of the international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). She has been awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from her alma mater, the State University of New York at Cortland. She has been named an Honorary Fellow of the American Geographical Society, in 2017 she was one of 10 global Leaders to be named to the Geospatial World Forum’s Hall of Fame, and in 2019 she was awarded the Department of Interior and NASA’s Pecora Award. She serves on several Boards and Advisory Committees including for two start-ups Azimuth1 and Data for Development Insights (D4DInsights), the Ecological Sequestration Trust, the International Centre for Earth Simulation (ICES), the International Symposium for Remote Sensing of Environment (ISRSE), and from 2018-2021, the Jane Goodall Institute.

Events

The Global Space Conference on Climate Change 2023

23 May-25 May 2023

Oslo, Norway

Participation:

International Astronautical Congress 2018

1–5 October 2018

Bremen, Germany

Participation:

International Astronautical Congress 2016

26-30 September 2016

Guadalajara, Mexico

Participation:

The Global Space Applications Conference 2014

2-4 June 2014

Paris, France

Participation:

Participation