It's All About Leadership!

[StevenAustin]

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 people who do not identify their role as GIS Manager, or even "GIS" in their title at all.  If you're new, there's a good chance you don't have the term "GIS" in your title.

The data shows it - when we got together for our annual GIS Managers Summit last year, over 40% of attendees did not have "GIS" or similar in their title.  We are seeing roles from IT, data, executive and business management, and all parts of organizations.

 

To reflect this, we're updating how we empower this community, to focus on GIS Leadership more broadly.

For those who have been a part of the community, the most significant changes you will see are the community and the annual summit.  Our community group is now the GIS Leadership User Group, and soon we will announce the details of the 2026 summit, which is now known as the Esri GIS Leadership Summit.

For those who are new to our community - welcome, and thank you for bringing the perspectives of non-GIS roles!  This community and our annual summit are made even better with this inclusive group of leaders, and we hope to hear more from you.

Moving forward, you will see more announcements, content, and resources about GIS leadership, and we encourage you to share your perspectives on leading the growth of GIS in your organizations.

[WilliamTarpai]

@EzraCheruiyot. Although we do have various level of GIS education and experience, neither of us have GIS in our job titles today. But we have now been able to deliver thousands of books, but only a limited amount of reconditioned computers to some of these 9 Bomet County, Kenya school:

1. Tenwek High School

2. Chebonei Girls High School

3. Chebilat Boys High School

4. Itembe Secondary School

5. Kaplong Boys High School

6. Kitaima Junior School

7. Kaplong Girls High School

8. Kiriba Integrated Secondary School

9. St.Mary Mixed Junior School

Now we are trying to introduce local students to mapping and spacial analysis.  But we have many challenges:as a recent Safina Empowerment report documented:

Infrastructure remains a major bottleneck. Only Tenwek High School had a functional library; the

other eight schools had none. A targeted 2023 study in Bomet Central Sub-County (highly

relevant to the project area) found that 86.3% of schools lacked ICT laboratories and had no

access to digital tools, while 82.1% lacked functional libraries. Additional gaps include

classroom shortages, inadequate sanitary facilities, and unreliable electricity—critical barriers as

Kenya's Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) incorporates digital literacy and practical activities.   

We are trying to provide good leadership and looks to our friends for help...