Ayana Nickerson Joins USGIF with more than 10 years of certification experience
Herndon, Virginia (Oct. 22, 2014)—Professional certification and the larger umbrella of credentialing is gaining traction in the GEOINT Community. Though professional certifications and designations have been around for some time in related fields such as GIS and remote sensing, a larger credentialing effort for the GEOINT Community has only just begun.
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) has a variety of credentialing efforts in development, and the Foundation recently hired Ayana T. Nickerson for the newly formed position of credentialing manager to aggressively move forward with these initiatives.
Nickerson has more than a decade of credentialing experience as well as familiarity with trade associations and nonprofits. Her two most recent positions include director of certification programs for the National Waste & Recycling Association and director of certification and administration for the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
“This is a time of remarkable change in the GEOINT profession,” said USGIF CEO Keith J. Masback. “It is this high pace of change that has resulted in a need for practitioners to demonstrate a standard set of GEOINT knowledge and capabilities, which credentialing offers. USGIF is creating a credentialing program that will be recognized globally and which will span government, military, and industry.”
USGIF is creating a universal GEOINT credentialing program, and it also has partnered with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) on the agency’s GEOINT certification initiatives via a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. Nickerson will be USGIF’s primary credentialing expert and will manage development of the credentialing program that is expected to have both training and testing components.
“Ayana brings to USGIF an extraordinary background in certification, training, and education,” said Dr. Darryl Murdock, USGIF’s vice president of tradecraft and professional development. “Her understanding of current industry best practices and her ongoing involvement as a leader in the credentialing community makes her an ideal match for our multi-faceted needs.”
About USGIF
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF) is a nonprofit, non-lobbying, educational foundation dedicated to promoting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft and developing a stronger GEOINT Community with government, industry, academia, professional organizations, and individuals who develop and apply geospatial intelligence to address national security challenges. USGIF’s mission is to build the community, advance the tradecraft, and accelerate innovation.
For more information, please visit www.USGIF.org and follow USGIF on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.