Urban Mapping Advisory Board
It is critical to remain an active participant in industry. The company seeks to challenge its beliefs and strategies by using a sounding board made up of industry professionals, academics and others.
J. Gerald Combs, Business Advisor
Combs is a financial professional with over 25 years experience in debt restructurings, corporate reorganizations, private placements and public offerings. In addition, he has been the CEO of both public and private companies, from start-ups to seasoned operations. Gerry has assisted clients in all phases of business development from business plan to IPO. His experience spans a wide range of companies from manufacturing and distribution to software and high tech.
Since 1985, Gerry has been Chairman and CEO of Merrico Corporation, a privately held financial consulting firm. Prior to that, Gerry was with Salomon Brothers' Corporate Finance department, where he led teams in both mergers & acquisitions and private placements. Gerry holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from St. Louis University and a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University.
Michael Hawley, Associate Professor, MIT Media Lab
Hawley received undergraduate degrees in music and computer science from Yale University and completed doctoral work under Marvin Minsky at MIT. His doctoral work, Structure Out Of Sound, fused these interests by implementing approaches for machine understanding of rich and complex soundscapes.
His research career has involved psychology and human-computer interfaces (at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill), computer music (at IRCAM in Paris, France) and pioneering work in digital cinema at Lucasfilm, Ltd (in San Rafael, CA), where he was a scientist in the Computer Research Division. Hawley's early work involved fundamental graphics interfaces to drive audio production, digital video editing and computer graphics technology. Working with Steve Jobs, Hawley was a principal engineer at NeXT, where he developed the world's first library of digital books. In 1998 his research team deployed technology for the American Everest Expedition.
Jake Baillie, Managing Director, STN Labs
Baillie serves on the Board of Directors of UMI and as Managing Director of STN Labs , an early stage incubator and seed fund focusing on new media companies. Previously, he was CEO of TrueLocal. Baillie is considered one of the leading strategists in search engine optimization. His primary research focus is organic search ranking algorithms as they relate to large-scale dynamic websites. He also specializes in categorization and data techniques in the local search market.
Dan Montello, Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara
Montello received his undergraduate degree in psychology from The Johns Hopkins University and completed doctoral work in psychology at Arizona State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota and currently serves as Full Professor in the department of geography (and affiliated faculty, department of psychology) at UCSB.
Montello's research interests include spatial perception, cognition and behavior; behavioral and cognitive geography and environmental perception and cognition. He has authored over 40 journal articles and continues research in the areas of map perception, spatial learning and development and navigation of built and natural environments.
Donald Norman, Co-founder, Nielsen Norman Group
Dr. Norman is Professor of Computer Science at Northwestern University and cofounder of the Nielsen Norman Group, an executive consulting firm that helps companies produce human-centered products and services. Norman serves as advisor and board member to numerous companies in high technology and consumer products and to non-profit organizations in the area of policy and education.
Norman has served as Vice President of the Advanced Technology Group at Apple Computer and as an executive at Hewlett Packard and UNext, a distance education company. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where he was founding chair of the Department of Cognitive Science and chair of the Department of Psychology. He is a trustee of the Institute of Design in Chicago, IL.
Norman received a B.S. degree from MIT and an MS degree from the University of Pennsylvania, both in Electrical Engineering. His doctorate, from the University of Pennsylvania, is in Psychology. In 1995, he received an honorary degree from the University of Padua (Italy).
He has been a faculty member at Harvard University. Dr. Norman is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, San Diego where he was founding chair of the Department of Cognitive Science and chair of the Department of Psychology. He was one of the founders of the Cognitive Science Society and has been chair of the society and editor of its journal, Cognitive Science. He is a fellow of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society, the American Psychological Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In 2002 he received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from SIGCHI, the professional organization for Computer-Human Interaction. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford).
Prof. Norman has served on numerous advisory boards including The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Academy of Sciences; The Technology Advisory Committee for Merrill Lynch; The School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology; the Center for Lifelong Learning and Design, University of Colorado, Boulder, and the College Board. He is on the steering committee of The Learning Federation and is a trustee of the Institute of Design in Chicago.
Dr. Norman was the lead negotiator for Apple in the discussions between the computer and television industries in the development of an Advanced Digital TV system for the United States.
Dr. Norman has published extensively in journals and books, and is the author or co-author of thirteen books, with translations into twelve languages, including "The Design of Everyday Things," and "Things That Make Us Smart." His latest book is "The Invisible Computer: Why good products can fail, the PC is so complex, and information appliances are the answer." Business Week has called this "the bible of the 'post PC' thinking."
Tim Nye, CEO, eMedia Corporation
Nye is an award winning entrepreneur known for his vision, creativity and focus on action. He has over 15 years experience in the computer aided design and software development industry as the founder and CEO of CADSOFT, where they develop both professional and consumer 3D home design software with sales of several million units. In 1998, CADSOFT was sold to a Fortune 500 company where is remains a leading AEC developer. In March 2000, He founded Geosign Corporation, growing one of the most profitable Internet firms with revenues over 100M and excellent margins.
Nye also founded TrueLocal, which was spun off from Geosign Corporation in 2005 and is a leading profitable local search engine. He remains an active entrepreneur with investments in technology, real estate, media, and data. Nye holds several patents filed in his name in the fields of Internet technology and business models.
Richard Pzena, Founder and President, Pzena Asset Management
Prior to forming Pzena Investment Management in 1995, Richard Pzena was the Director of US Equity Investments and Chief Research Officer for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. He joined Bernstein in 1986 as an oil industry analyst and was named to the Institutional Investor All America Research Team from 1988-1990. During 1990 and 1991, Pzena served as Chief Investment Officer, Small Cap Equities, and assumed his broader domestic equity role in 1991. Prior to joining Bernstein, he worked for the Amoco Corp. in various financial and planning roles. He earned a BS summa cum laude and an MBA from the Wharton School in 1979 and 1980 respectively. Currently Pzena Investment Management has over $10b under management. The firm's flagship fund has provided a 12.31% return since 1996.
Chutta Ratnathicam, Financial Advisor
Ratnathicam holds more than 25 years in finance and executive management in the transportation and logistics industry. He has experience in financial and accounting functions, SEC reporting, investor relations, strategic planning and IT. Ratnathicam is the former CFO and SVP of CNF, a $4b+ global transportation and logistics company. He was Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee and currently sits on the board of Franklin Resources, a $3b financial services company.
Ian White, Founder and CEO, Urban Mapping
The company was founded by Ian White in 2001. He holds 10 years experience in marketing strategy and product development. Ian has written for ID Magazine and Core77. He is also the co-author of a chapter in "Next Generation Business Handbook" published by Wiley and an article in The Journal of Business Venturing. He holds an MBA from Babson College and a BA from McGill University and was educated in the US, France and Ireland. Ian counts Harvard University, General Motors, Trader Joe's, Xerox Corporation, Parsons School of Design, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration among his past clients. White also served as Adjunct Professor at Parsons School of Design. He is an active speaker in the area of geospatial data and local search.
Greg Sterling, Founding Principal, Sterling Market Intelligence
Greg serves on the Board of Directors of UMI and is the founding principal of Sterling Market Intelligence, a consulting and research firm focused on the Internet's impact on local consumer and advertiser behavior. He also is a Senior Analyst for Local Mobile Search, an advisory service from Opus Research.
Before Sterling Market Intelligence, Sterling ran The Kelsey Group's Interactive Local Media program, the first advisory service devoted to local search. Before that Sterling was at TechTV and AllBusiness.com. And prior to joining AllBusiness, Sterling was a practicing attorney in San Francisco. He also serves as an advisor to AdMission Corp. and Palore.
