Kurt Allen a vice president for Photo Science, Inc. in Greenbelt, MD and managing director of the firm’s Maryland, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Florida office, was seated as the 13th President of MAPPS at the association’s annual summer conference in Asheville, North Carolina in July.

Mr. Allen was with Greenhorne & O’Mara, Inc. for 12 years prior to Photo Science's acquisition of G&O’s Geographic Sciences Division in December 2003.  At Photo Science, Kurt has been charged with a wide variety of business development and operational responsibilities with a focus on the Federal Government market.  He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, is a Professional Land Surveyor, and has 16 years of extensive experience in the fields of GIS, remote sensing, and photogrammetry.  Mr. Allen is currently managing projects for NOAA, USGS, and USACE.

In his inaugural address in Asheville, Mr. Allen established two priorities for MAPPS.  He pledged to strengthen the association’s efforts in government affairs, highlighting the need for the private geospatial community to have an even more effective voice on issues such as qualifications based selection (QBS) for government procurement.   Mr. Allen also highlighted the needed for additional focus on professionalism in the way MAPPS member firms perform their services and serve their clients and the public.

The MAPPS membership elected four new members to the Board of Directors and reelected one incumbent member at the association’s annual business meeting on July 19.  Reelected to a third term on the Board is Michael Bullock of Intermap Technologies, Inc., Englewood, CO.  New Directors are David Hart of Continental Mapping Consultants, Sun Prairie, WI; Brant Howard of CompassData, Centennial, CO; Dick McDonald of Michael Baker, Jr., Inc., Beaver, PA; and Anne Hale Miglarese of EarthData Holdings, Washington, DC.  Completing the Board are directors Marvin Miller, Markhurd, Maple, Grove, MN, Scott Perkins, Western Air Maps, Overland Park, KS, and Silas Suazo, Bohannan-Huston, Inc., Albuquerque, NM.  Officers of MAPPS for 2005-2006, in addition to Mr. Allen, are Mr. Miller as President Elect, Mr. Bullock as Treasurer and Mr. Perkins as Secretary.