SPEAKERS

John Yaist, is a Technology Evangelist at Esri, a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) company. Beginning in 2000, he worked troubleshooting geographic databases for a variety of clients, focusing on water, gas and energy utility systems.  He then managed a unit of employees, directing customer support relations and servicing customer inquiries. Most recently he’s begun evangelizing the role of GIS technology and spatial, analytical operations to solving a myriad of problems through Esri’s ArcGIS Developer Platform.  He’s currently managing Developer Outreach at Esri, coordinating software challenges to advocate geographic technology’s role in fostering sustainable solutions , including climate change impacts with The White House, disaster resilience with the United Nations, and human health issues related to climate change with the Department of Health and Human Services.  Originally from Akron, Ohio, Yaist has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the Ohio State University and a master’s degree in geography from the University of Akron. He currently lives in Palm Springs, California, which means he now regards anything below 90 degrees as jacket weather.

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