Meet Roger Boissonnas, Director of Delivery for Commercial Solutions
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Roger smiling on command.
Hi. I’m Roger Boissonnas. As Director of Delivery for Commercial Solutions, I work with my GeoDecisions colleagues to design and implement large-scale location-based web, mobile, and desktop solutions for private-sector clients. My focus is on the insurance industry, and adoption and development for GeoDecisions App Suite: Notify, Track, GeoPlan, and Locate. I have been with GeoDecisions for over five years in our Madison, Wisconsin office, although I work with teams located around the country.
I fell into software development by accident, and to GIS doubly so. Although I was a Psychology major at Cornell University, it was my job as a student that paved my first steps toward my eventual career path. As a student programmer at the Cornell Center for Theory and Simulation in Science and Engineering, one of five national supercomputer centers at the time, I discovered a love for computer programming, and so my career was born.
Sixteen years of software development and database administration experience followed. I worked with a variety of programming languages, databases, and evolving architecture patterns, from standalone applications running on disconnected desktop computers through the complex distributed web-based systems of today. Ten years ago, I seized the opportunity to work with GIS, and I never looked back. A lifelong map lover, I relished the opportunity to make a mid-career shift, learn something new, and build spatially aware systems with Esri® and open source technologies.
Roger, pictured center wearing an orange shirt and sunglasses, worked with his ManKind Project crew on a Habitat for Humanity service project in April 2015. To his disappointment, he did not get to drive the backhoe.
I love the power of spatial analysis - finding patterns and relationships in data by space and place; I love the effectiveness of maps in communicating results; and I love how visually appealing map-based applications can be. Maps are beautiful!
I grew up in Ithaca, New York and graduated from Cornell University before striking out into the world - first in New Jersey and then in Madison (it’s like Ithaca, but with jobs). When I’m not in the office you’ll find me spending time with my children (Alex and Ariane in college, Amelie and Aurora still at home), biking or hiking near Madison’s lakes - or even better, on them. I love skating both indoors and outdoors, and have played recreational hockey for my entire adult life. I first played goalie, and more recently, as a defenseman. I believe in giving back to my community through volunteerism. When not on the ice, I teach youth education at my church, and am active in the ManKind Project, an international nonprofit organization of men who mentor and support each other in our efforts to build a better world by building better men.
