Jack Dangermond
Jack Dangermond is an American business executive and environmental scientist. In 1969, he co-founded with his wife Laura the Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), a privately-held Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software company. In 2009, with an estimated net worth of $2 billion, Dangermond joined the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.[1]
Dangermond is the company's President and Chief Executive Officer and works out of Esri's headquarters in Redlands, California. Dangermond founded Esri to perform land use analysis, however its focus evolved into GIS software development, highlighted by the release of Arc/INFO in the early 1980s; the development and marketing of Arc/INFO positioned Esri with the dominant market share among GIS software developers. Today Esri is the largest GIS software developer in the world and its flagship product, ArcGIS traces its heritage to Dangermond's initial efforts in developing Arc/INFO.
Early life
Jack Dangermond grew up in Redlands, California, as the son of immigrants. His parents owned a plant nursery in Redlands.[2] Dangermond attended Redlands High School
Dangermond completed his undergraduate work at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), studying landscape architecture and environmental science.[2][3] He then earned a Master of Science degree in environmental science from the University of Minnesota, and a Master of Landscape Architecture degree from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design GSD in 1969.[2] His early work in the school's Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (LCGSA) led directly to the development of Esri's ArcInfo GIS software. He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees from institutions including Ferris State University, University of Redlands, University of West Hungary, City University in London, England, and from the University of Minnesota.
Awards and honors
Dangermond has had a strong impact on the development of GIS methodologies, the GIS software market, GIS technology research and related analytical methods. He has received many awards reflecting the influence of his work, including:
- the Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society
- the EDUCAUSE Medal of EduCause
- the Horwood Award of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association
- the Anderson Medal of the Association of American Geographers
- the John Wesley Powell Award of the U.S. Geological Survey.
- the Carl Mannerfelt Gold Medal of the International Cartographic Association
- the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 2010.[4]
- the Alexander Graham Bell Medal of the National Geographic Society in 2010, together with Roger Tomlinson.[5][6]
References
- ^ "#158 Jack Dangermond - The Forbes 400 Richest Americans 2009". Forbes. 2009-09-30.
- ^ a b c Howell, Donna (2009-08-14). "Jack Dangermond's Digital Mapping Lays It All Out". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved 2009-08-21.
- ^ "Alumnus Jack Dangermond to Earn Honorary Doctorate". PolyCentric. Retrieved 2008-09-14. [dead link]
- ^ "2010 Medals and Awards". Royal Geographical Society. Retrieved June 27, 2011.
- ^ Jack Dangermond and Roger Tomlinson receive National Geographic’s Bell Medal, GIS Lounge, July 12, 2010.
- ^ David Braun (July 13, 2010). "Nat Geo awards Alexander Graham Bell Medals to GIS pioneers". National Geographic Society. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
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External links
- O'Reilly Media - Gov 2.0 Summit stage presentation - Dangermond/Bartlett GeoEnabling Gov 2.0 (September 2009)
- C-Span Interviews From the Gov 2.0 Summit Dangermond segment starts around 22:30 (November 2009)
- ComputerWorld interview The Grill: GIS pioneer Jack Dangermond on the future of mapping technologies (July 2009)
- Government Computer News interview The next step for agency GIS: shared services [November 2009)
- Investor's Business Daily article Jack Dangermond’s Digital Mapping Lays It All Out (August 2009)
- Computerworld Interview GIS as a Game Changer (August 2009)
- Government Technology Interview Q&A with Jack Dangermond (May 2009)
- Jack Dangermond, Esri President - Biographical information on Esri's Web site
- Biography - Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) Advisory Board members