Liam Gowan, Board Director

Liam has over six years of experience in the GIS industry, primarily as a developer with MapDev Technology Solutions Inc. since 2019. He has a passion for solving geospatial problems and creating user-friendly applications. At MapDev, he’s worked across web, desktop, and mobile platforms, as well as ArcGIS Pro add-ins, for clients in government, real estate, and utilities.Based in Halifax, Liam holds a Bachelor of Computer Science with a Specialization in Communications Technology & Cyber Security from Dalhousie University (2018) and an Advanced Diploma in Geographic Sciences from COGS (2019).

Dave MacLean, Board Director / Treasurer

Dave has been instructing Advanced GIS at the Centre of Geographic Sciences since 2001. Prior to that, he worked at Industrial Forestry Service Ltd. in Prince George, British Columbia; the Centre of GIS, State of Qatar; and J.D. Irving, Limited (Woodlands Division), in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Dave graduated from Nova Scotia Land Survey Institute (now COGS - NSCC), from TUNS (now Dal), and Acadia. He is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, has been involved with GANS since 2011, (and is often looking for student projects).

Aaron McGill, Board Director

Aaron has been working in the GIS field for over 23 years in B.C., Alberta and Nova Scotia. He has worked for Canadian Forest Products Ltd, TDB Consultants, Avison Management Consultants, Timberline Forest Inventory Consultants, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Wood Environmental Engineering. He currently works with the Nova Scotia Government as the Forest Health supervisor.

Aaron studied Integrated Forest Resource Management at Lakehead University, GIS at Algonquin College and Project Management at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Jeff McKenna, Board Director

Jeff has been in the spatial field for 22+ years, and has been focusing on sharing geospatial information through the Internet using Open Source since the year 1998.  Highly regarded internationally for his promotion of Open Source mapping software and data sharing standards, Jeff is the co-founder of the FOSS4G (Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial) annual global conference, and was the driving force behind moving it around to all areas of the globe, since back in 2004. In 2016 Jeff was the recipient of the prestigious Sol Katz Award, in recognition for leadership in the FOSS4G community worldwide.  Jeff is also the President Emeritus of the OSGeo foundation.
Jeff is heavily involved in the MapServer software project, and an active member of the MapServer Project Steering Committee.  He also actively contributes to the OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) and its industry standards for data sharing.
Jeff is the creator and developer of MS4W (MapServer for Windows) which is downloaded and installed 6,000+ times per month, that helps organizations of all sizes to publish and share their geospatial information.
Locally, Jeff operates a consulting company, GatewayGeo, along the beautiful South Shore in Lunenburg, and is a past Vice President of GANS.

Simeon Roberts, Board Director

Simeon grew up in England and studied geography at Middlesex University in London. He moved to Canada in 1981 and attended McMaster University in Hamilton Ontario where he continued his graduate studies. Simeon landed in Nova Scotia in 1986 and took up a position lecturing Canadian geography, marketing, regional economic analysis and Geographic Information Systems at Saint Mary’s University. Since then he has co-authored the first digital atlas produced in North America, been Academic Chair at the Nova Scotia Community College-Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) and held senior positions in the private sector with engineering and IT companies. He led a Business Retention and Expansion – BRE program and was Project Coordinator for the Nova Scotia Employer of Choice Pilot Initiative. He has also coached CEO’s and has been an export mentor. Simeon has worked extensively in the international market, has published widely and presented at many conferences. He has worked with a number of non-profit groups and recently completed studies on the life sciences, IT and geomatics sectors. Simeon joined the Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors (ANSLS) as Executive Director in November 2021.

Student Director #1: vacant