GPC GROUP - Key Persons
Arul has more than 25 years of experience in the fields of Accounts, Office Administration, Documents Control, Inventory Control and Export & Import Management. He joined GPC-GIS during 2009 as an Office Manager and plays a vital role for the smooth operation of the day-to-day business. He works closely with the management and executives to address the company's staffing, administrative, and organizational needs. He is responsible for managing payroll, auditing, organizing and coordinating office operations and procedures.
Prior joining GPC-GIS, he worked with Al Nakeel - The Design Group, Parsons International Limited and Dar Al Handasah Consultants and took many challenges in Project Commercials, Finance and Administration.
Arul holds Masters Degrees in Business Administration (MBA - Finance) and Commerce (M.Com).
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder of the Spatial Applications Division of KU Leuven
- Research Manager and Senior Consultant at KU Leuven
Danny Vandenbroucke is co-founder of the Spatial Applications Division of KU Leuven (SADL), Belgium, where he currently acts as Research Manager and Senior Geographic Information (GI) Expert. He obtained an MSc degree in Geography and is preparing a PhD on "The impact of the application of GI-standards on the performance of business processes" at the same university.
Over the past 29 years, he was involved as project manager and senior GI expert in more than 50 small and large GI and Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) projects at the local, national and international level: including business case analysis, design and development of information systems, application of GI-standards for SDI and SDI assessments studies. Danny Vandenbroucke worked as external GI-expert for several Directorates General of the European Commission (e.g. DG AGRI, DG ENV, DG SANCO, JRC) and contributed to the development of SDI strategies in different European countries and regions (e.g. Romania, Kosovo, FYROM, Belgium, Catalunya). He is involved in the preparation and implementation of the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) since 2002, e.g. as co-chair of the INSPIRE Drafting Team on Monitoring and Reporting for which he co-edited the Implementing Rules. Danny Vandenbroucke was the project leader of the INSPIRE State of Play study assessing the development and implementation of SDI and INSPIRE in 34 European countries between 2002 and 2011.
Between 2005 and 2013 Danny Vandenbroucke was member of the Council of the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE), and he acted as Secretary General of this association between 2010 and 2013. He is the Chair of the ISO/TC 211 and CEN/TC 287 Belgian Mirror Committee, and active member on behalf of KU Leuven in the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). In 2011 he was one of the technical writers of the technical multi-part report CEN/TR 15449 on standards for SDIs. Since December 2014 he is independent member of the Board of Directors of the Agency for Geographic Information in Flanders (AGIV), Belgium.
Dr. David Bergvinson has worked in multiple roles within agriculture development for over 30 years. David's diverse experience in crop improvement, agronomy, pest and disease management, agrometeorology, research management and policy formulation are now being leveraged to support organizations and countries be sustainable by design against the backdrop of climate change. As Director General of an International Research Center (ICRISAT) he developed the skills and network to ensure demand-driven innovation and strategic partnerships came together to translate science into prosperity for rural families at a national scale, especially for rainfed farming systems in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
David led the digital agriculture portfolio at aWhere and initiated Digital Agriculture at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012. As Director General of ICRISAT, David strengthened public private partnerships to accelerate development and delivery of digital services to farmers in Asia and Africa. aWhere operationalized weather-based agronomic services with national partners for approximately one million smallholder farmers in Africa and empowered national meteorology services to understand weather trends to inform national resilience plans. David is now working with a range of organizations to map out resilience to climate change with a focus on food systems.
Job Titles:
- Director of Information Technology ( GPC EAST )
Gopi has over 21 years of experience in the GIS industry holding a variety of roles and responsibilities; GIS developer, Technical Analyst, Project leader, and Project manager. As a Senior Data Analyst for GPC, he currently works for the NOC project where he is responsible for Oracle database administration, GIS data management, managing the ArcGIS Server and publishing GIS map services. In addition, he contributes to hardware and software issues, Oracle middle ware applications issue and developing integration modules to integrate Common NOC with individual NOCs at Government entities.
He has previously worked as a GIS Consultant for projects and companies based in Kuwait, the USA, Qatar, Singapore and India. Gopi holds a Bachelor Degree in Software Engineering from IASE in India and is a Microsoft Certified Professional Developer and a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist.
Job Titles:
- Principal of Bennett & Associates
John Bennett, the Principal of Bennett & Associates, is an environmental specialist with more than 25 years experience in the U.S. and over 40 countries on five continents. His work has focused on project development and management, strategic planning, legislation/policy, communications, media relations, and outreach. He has advised the United Nations, governments, legislators, parliamentarians, private foundations, universities and businesses in virtually all areas of environment - climate change, disaster management, marine conservation, water, forests, waste, endangered species, data and information - from the senior political to community level. He is the President of the International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative - USA, the founder of Arctic Alliance, and a member of the Advisory Committee to the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists.
He is a former Executive Director of Rainforest Foundation-US and a past Director of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, where he led the City's environmental communications, media relations, public outreach, environmental education, and legislative and regulatory affairs. He was a project manager and senior producer of the 2011 Eye on Earth Summit in Abu Dhabi and has managed communications for several large-scale environmental events.
A lawyer by training, Mr. Bennett has previously served as Chief Legislative Assistant to U.S. Representative George Miller (D-CA), the Issues Director in two United States Senate campaigns, Law Clerk to Justice Robert L. Clifford of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and as a corporate litigation attorney with the New York law firm, Battle Fowler (Paul Hastings). He has also worked for two weekly newspapers and written numerous articles and reports. Mr. Bennett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Wesleyan University and a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers Law School.
Joseph Abdo has more than 25 years' cumulative experience in the development, management, operation, and audit of geo smart and transformative solutions and services for whole-of-community and enterprise implementations across a variety of sectors. This comprises e-government, local government and municipal affairs, urban planning, real estate construction & facilities management, utilities & infrastructure, and others. His knowledge and in-depth experience have spanned a full range of digital transformation programs' components such as development & adoption of necessary policies, effective organization and governance, design & development and rollout of geo smart technology & infrastructure platforms and solutions, data management to streamline operations and support decision making, sustained and optimized operations management, setup of foundation corporate support services, and multi-phase programs' performance management & adaptation.
In addition, as part of his various roles and assignments to clients across a variety of disciplines over the years, Mr. Abdo has contributed to, through advisory consultation, support and facilitation, several executive & technical committees and working groups, multi-stage programs' audits and key milestones reviews, focused awareness building and strategic outreach & communication initiatives empowering the digital transformation journey (s) of his clients, in addition to strategic alignment of the respective digital transformation initiatives with community-wide and enterprise visions and goals. Furthermore, Mr. Abdo played a pivotal role in the institutional setup of business functional units in several client organizations that provide shared support services to their respective communities.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder and Partner at Earth Capital Partners
Dr. Andrade is a Co-Founder and Partner at Earth Capital Partners, LLP. He is responsible for business development and deal origination in Latin America and covers global external relations. Earth Capital Partners (ECP) is an investment management business, offering a platform of sustainable investment products. Each ECP product is launched with a specific focus on a sustainable asset investment theme, geography and investment style. ECP provides investors with a stable platform for investment into the new sustainable asset growth sectors at scale. Themes include renewable energy, energy efficiency, sustainable agriculture and forestry, water and clean technologies.
Job Titles:
- Staff Accountant
- Staff Accountant for All Branches
Maria Shahinyan is the staff accountant for all branches of the GPC Group, and is located in the Running Springs, California, USA office. She has a B.A. in Accounting from University of Moscow, Russia. Ms. Shahinyan has over eleven years of accounting experience, and supports all aspects of company accounting, including custom project reporting and budget preparation and analysis as well as helping to write and implement accounting standard operation platforms for each area of the company.
During his more than thirty years of experience in the application of GIS and related technologies to urban and regional planning and resource science, policy, and management, to over 220 projects in 65 countries around the world, Mark has established himself as a globally recognized name in GIS and SDI development. Today he oversees GPC Group activities across the three companies that comprise the Group, and also serves as CEO for the Earth Council Alliance (ECA), an international private non-profit organization dedicated to sustainable societal development.
Over the past 10 years he has been largely focused on the promotion and development of national and regional spatial data infrastructure initiatives, including programs in Oman, Lebanon, Jamaica, Bahrain, Libya, Yemen, Thailand, Afghanistan, Jammu & Kashmir (India), Kurdistan Region (Iraq) and Abu Dhabi. Mark is also promoting the application of GIS technology, SDI and Information and Communications Technology for Development (ICT4D) principles to local communities in the form of "GeoVillage - community information infrastructure", as a framework for supporting urban and rural sustainable and resilient community development and environmental conservation.
Mark was awarded a Master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1982.
Job Titles:
- - GIS As a Consultant
- Acting General Manager ( GPC ICT )
Mohamed Abuzaid has more than 20 years of experience in the Geospatial Technologies / Services, Information Technology, Government, Construction, Infrastructure & Utilities, and Higher Education sectors. He used to successfully handle different operational, technical, business, and managerial assignments on a high performance levels.
Mohamed Abuzaid started his career journey in 2000 as a Teaching Assistant, and was in-charge of delivering various computer sciences and applications courses in the faculty of Sciences at Al-Neelain University in Khartoum, Sudan.
From 2001 till 2007, Mohamed was involved in different Engineering tasks in UAE with a multi-national contracting and consulting firms (KMG-Emirates and Dorsch Gruppe - DC Abu Dhabi), were he gained an extensive knowledge and deep insights on the, construction, infrastructure and utilities industries, with more focus on the utilization of CAD/GIS systems in these areas.
In 2008, Mohamed joined Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company (ADSSC) were he jointly led the ADSSC GIS function to a new era of achievements through the successful implementation of various Geospatial technologies and solutions. As a result of that; ADSSC - since its establishment - has been awarded (3) excellence awards in 2012 and 2013, from the Geospatial Word Forum (Netherlands) and GISTEC (ESRI distributer, UAE) consequently.
Starting from June 2013, Mohamed Abuzaid joined GPC-GIS as a Consultant within the No Objection Certificates (NOC) program, where he is contributing towards the efficient implementation of this strategic program by leading the Data Track of the NOC program, while providing his support to the other program tracks and activities.
Mohamed Abuzaid holds a Master degree in GIS and Remote Sensing from the United Arab Emirates University (UAE), a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Al-Neelain University (Sudan), and a Diploma degree in Civil Engineering from Sudan University of Science and Technology (Sudan).
Nidal has around 30 years of experience in the field of geospatial sciences and technologies. Since 2009, he has worked with the GPC Group as a Senior Consultant on strategic projects including the Community Development track of the Abu Dhabi Spatial Data Infrastructure (AD-SDI) and the master planning and implementation/operations stages of the Abu Dhabi No-Objection Certificate (NOC) Program.
Before that, Nidal had extensive working experience in Jordan, particularly in the water/wastewater utilities, municipal, and national mapping sectors, including several projects funded by international donor agencies such as the EU, USAID, JICA, GIZ, and KfW. Between 2005 and 2007, Nidal was a member in the National Steering Committee for the Jordan Spatial Data Infrastructure (JSDI) - The "Jordan National GIS" Strategy. In 2008, Nidal was assigned as a Co-Advisor to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs (MoMA), Jordan, to conduct situation assessment of GIS systems and capacities, and to draft a proposal towards developing an enterprise GIS system in the Ministry.
Other domains of expertise include Private Sector Participation (PSP) and Public/Private Partnership (PPP), commercialization and modernization of public services, and performance management and monitoring of service providers. Nidal also possesses extensive experience and certifications in training, capacity building, and awareness building.
Nidal was awarded an M.Phil. Degree in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing from the University of Cambridge, UK, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Earth and Environmental Sciences and Computer Science from Yarmouk University, Jordan, in addition to certifications from Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) and Earth Resource Mapping, Inc.
Rajy has more than 25 years of experience in IT Systems Integration Project Management involving Utilities and Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs). His established role as a PMO scoping, procuring and managing simultaneous projects was complemented with a business development role focusing on formalizing alliances and overseeing proposals management. Rajy contributes to growing the company's business and ensuring efficient delivery of quality solutions that effectively address the client's business needs; thus, seeking collaboration opportunities with potential partners while capitalizing on his experience in business processes reengineering and performance management.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor, Program Development & Communications
Raymond Chavez has more than 25 years of experience with program development and multimedia communications for environmental, social and economic programs in the United States, the UAE and internationally. This includes project design, strategic planning, public-private partnerships and fundraising for sustainable development and environmental programs, public relations campaigns and special events.
Raymond's program development and multimedia communication experience spans the full spectrum of sustainable development including: agriculture, biodiversity, climate change, coastal ecosystems, forestry, environmental education, information and communication technology (ICT), renewable energy and water security. Raymond has worked on diverse public-private sustainable development programs in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Latin America, Middle East and the Pacific - enabling the transfer of skills and lessons learned across borders and cultures at the local community, regional, national and global levels.
During the past ten years, Mr. Chavez has specialized in strategic planning and production of communication and marketing initiatives for multi-donor funds that provide support for environmental and sustainable development programs. This includes work with the senior leadership of bilateral, multilateral foundation and corporate donors.
Raymond's multimedia production experience includes work as an award-winning writer, director and producer of documentary films for BBC, CNN, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, PBS, public service announcements and education programs for the internet, television, radio, print and social media.
With 22 years of experience in integrated multidisciplinary consultancy and business development, Wajdy has most recently been GPC's Senior Consultant for the Abu Dhabi NOC program, where he leads on requirement analysis and stakeholder situation assessment across core government entities.
Wajdy has been involved in a broad range of GIS projects including the planning, design and implementation oversight of large enterprise utility projects. He has also led teams in the development of strategy and policy frameworks as well as business performance management, system integration, and asset information management.
Wajdy holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from the American University of Beirut and multiple certificates in GIS related courses.