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Key insights from the 2026 GIS Leadership Summit community survey
What 176 Geospatial Leaders Told Us About Governance, Transformation, and Business Value GIS has never been more important to organizations. As location intelligence becomes increasingly connected to digital transformation, operational efficiency, and decision-making, GIS leaders are being asked to deliver more value than…
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What I Shared at the Leadership Summit — and What the Room Shared Back
A week and a half ago, I had the honor of speaking at the GIS Leadership Summit in San Diego. For those who were not in the room, I want to share a few things from the talk — and from the conversations that followed. The talk was called "You Don't Have to Carry the Map Alone." It started with a question I could not stop…
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Three Questions to be asked by GIS leaders
Welcome to San Diego GIS Leaders attending ESRI EU 2026 It's here, at long last. I was in San Diego this week, and know you'll be able to enjoy your time while there. (From Education 2030 UN ) Three questions currently being asked during another global conversation at the United Nations:: * What kind of future do you want…
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GIS Leadership Summit 2026 – Session Resources & Further Learning
GIS Leadership Summit 2026 Session Resources & Further Learning The 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit brought together GIS leaders, executives, IT professionals, and innovators to share practical lessons for strengthening geospatial programs and increasing organizational impact. This resource guide is organized by the four…
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The History of the Esri GIS Leadership Summit
As I prepare for the 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit, the fourteenth overall and my tenth, I thought it appropriate to reflect on the history, evolution, and impact of this annual event and share it with the community. The Summit started as the Esri GIS Managers Open Summit on Tuesday, July 13, 2010, during the Esri…
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UC Leadership Summit Panel Preview: What do Executives care about?
We are looking forward to the executive panel at the 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit. The conversation is designed to help GIS managers, professionals, and current or future leaders hear directly from executives who rely on GIS and location intelligence in very different industries. The goal is to make the executive lens…
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A preview of the "Communicating ROI with the Tools You Already Have" session at this year's GIS Leadership Summit this year
Wade KloosEric Shreve Great GIS programs create value every day. The challenge is making that value visible to the people who matter most. Join Wade Kloos (Utah Department of Natural Resources) and Eric Shreve (City of Goodyear, Arizona) during the GIS Leadership Summit this year for an interactive fireside conversation on…
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The Question I Was Not Trained to Answer...
When I look back on 20 years in GIS, the moment that changed my career was not technical. It was a question I could not answer. I had been a GIS Manager for several years. I had built infrastructure, secured budgets, navigated political turnover, and mentored analysts who became senior leaders. I knew the technology better…
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Bridging the Gap Between IT and GIS: A Must-Attend GIS Leadership Summit Session
GIS is no longer just a tool for GIS professionals. Across organizations, geospatial technology is becoming an enterprise capability that supports operations, data-driven decision-making, innovation, and organizational resilience. As GIS continues to expand, one thing is clear: lasting success depends on a strong…
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New Toolset to Self-Evaluate Your Geospatial Program
We are excited to introduce Esri’s Geospatial Program Self-Assessment Toolset, a valuable toolset designed to help you evaluate the current maturity of your geospatial capabilities and identify opportunities and pathways for growth and improvement. With the new toolset, you’ll be able to do a brief assessment by ranking…
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Governance isn’t a checkbox. It’s a journey.
As we head into the GIS Leadership Summit (GISLS), one theme continues to surface across organizations of all sizes: Governance often becomes visible when something isn’t working. It shows up when data is duplicated. When teams operate in silos. When decisions rely on outdated information. And sometimes, the stakes are…
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GIS Leadership Summit - Turning Geospatial Capability Into a Strategic Enterprise Asset
Turning geospatial capability into a strategic enterprise asset At the GIS Leadership Summit, Stevo Robinson from Auckland Council will explore how geospatial capability can be positioned as a strategic enterprise asset rather than just a technical platform. He will share how Auckland Council has developed a clearer…
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I have been asking GIS leaders the same question for years...
Not in a survey. In conversations — 60+ of them, recorded, transcribed, and eventually turned into my book - The Science of GIS Leadership. The question was simple: what are you most proud of? I expected to hear about projects. Programs built from scratch. Budgets fought for and won. Systems that outlasted the politics…
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GIS Leadership Summit Reaching A Sell Out!
Update - we've increased the capacity of the room to add 50 more spaces – hoping no one misses out!.... It's hard to believe, but our annual summit for GIS leaders has grown so much that we are expecting to reach maximum capacity soon and will have to close all registration, even the special access for return attendees.…
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GIS Leaders Get Savvy to Help Their Small Teams Make a Big Impact
Leading a GIS program without a dedicated GIS team or sufficient staffing is not for the faint of heart. Connecting across the organization to evangelize and collect new GIS use cases (and wins!) is challenging when you have a long list of work that needs to get done. Challenging…but not impossible. For those of you…
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I don't know how to lead my team through this!
A GIS manager sent me a message last week. Her team is technically excellent. Running Python at 7 am. Automating workflows that used to take three days. Genuinely good at what they do. "But I don't know how to lead them through this," she wrote. "Through what?" I asked. "The AI shift. Everyone says prepare your team. I…
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GIS Manager/Leader UC Sessions and Activities Agenda Suggestions
Hi GIS Leadership user group, we are less than 30 days out from UC and the GIS Leadership Summit. If you are attending the summit, (and I hope you are), and you are wondering where you should focus your time at UC, we are here to assist you. We have put together a list of suggested sessions and activities to help fill out…
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How to Lead with GIS at the 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit
One of the real joys throughout my 18-year career at Esri is stumbling across amazing GIS professionals, hearing their stories, and then helping share their stories with the community. There are so many unknown heroes out there performing miracles with spatial technology, and they usually do not seek the spotlight. We all…
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You Don't Have to Carry the Map Alone
Why technical excellence is the foundation of GIS leadership — not the ceiling Have you ever walked out of a meeting knowing your GIS program delivered exactly what was needed — and still left with nothing approved? Have you ever been the most technically knowledgeable person in the room and somehow still not been in the…
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Leading decision-makers through a digital leap (Coming soon to the GIS Leadership Summit 2026)
Turning geospatial capability into trusted, enterprise decision-making How to win executive trust and scale geospatial into everyday decision-making Hello, I'm Lorin Liliko'i Lima, Geospatial Manager at Kaingaroa Tipu in Aotearoa New Zealand. At the GIS Leadership Summit 2026, I'll share how I have socialised strategy,…
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16 Amazing Reasons to Attend the 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit
Other than my incredible colleagues at Esri, and our distributors and partners, here are 16 amazing reasons to attend the 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit. These are the remarkable speakers that will be sharing their 300+ years of knowledge and guidance with a select number of attendees. Where else can you find such a…
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The Importance of "Essential Skills"
Great article on the importance of what I call "essential skills", commonly known as "soft skills". Bottom line: if you want to advance your career, work on non-technical skills. They are harder to find & master. Mesa, Ariz.’s CIO on the Importance of ‘Soft Skills’ in IT
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More Leaders, More Engagement: The 2026 Esri GIS Leadership Summit Is Coming
The Esri GIS Managers Summit returns as the Esri GIS Leadership Summit on July 12, 2026, building on the strong foundation of recent years with an even greater focus on interaction, leadership, and meaningful conversation. Held on-site the day before the Esri User Conference, the Summit brings together GIS leaders, IT…
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It's All About Leadership!
With the growth of those leading the impact of GIS in their organizations, this group has seen many people joining in, with titles outside of the realm of "GIS Manager". With this change comes even more value! If you've been part of this community for a while, you may have noticed there are consistently more and more…
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Looking for Executive Sponsorship for GIS? Get Your IT Director to the Esri Public Sector CIO Summit!
One of the best things you can do to get executive sponsorship for your public sector GIS program is to get your IT director to attend the Esri Public Sector CIO Summit. All IT leaders need at a minimum an annual briefing on the latest trends in GIS. The event is Mar. 25-26 at Esri HQ in Redlands. There is no charge to…