Ashley Patterson is a Senior Geospatial Technician for Connected Nation. She is embarking on her second career after twenty years of running a successful commercial photography studio. She went back to get her BS GIS degree from the University of Louisville and within weeks found herself unpacking in South-Central Kentucky with great ambition. 

Ashley’s first encounter with KAMP was at the Conference hosted in Louisville KY in Fall 2019 as a student in her last semester. She was very taken with the friends she met and when she was nominated a few months later to serve as director- she enthusiastically said YES!

Not long into her service as Director the Membership Committee Chair was vacated and she agreed to fill in as InterimChair and when the Executive Board asked her to stay on for one more season she joyfully accepted

Ashley is honored and humbled to accept the nomination to run for President of KAMP. What an honor it would be to serve alongside her friends and colleagues in any capacity!  It would, however, be a great joy and honor to serve you all as President Elect! Volunteering is in Ashley’s soul as she has a long history of producing charity events and serving in other organizations such as the Rotary Club International, S.C.O.R.E. (the Service Corps of Retired Entrepreneurs) and in 4H as a photography teacher. She has volunteered with the KY Karst Conservancy on the Big Bat Cave [lidar] project where she worked on data but had no desire to spelunk herself. Ashley is currently involved with her GIS mentor working on a project for fun- for the band Houndmouth. Stay tuned for that future presentation!

Ashley has found a like minded group of colleagues who support her ambitions and challenge her growth at Connected Nation. She is enthusiastic about this season in her continuing career path and the ways that she gets to map the changing world.

Ashley is a big nerd at heart and loves to encourage her friends and colleagues.

 She is endowed with a campaigner personality type and is a visual/tactile learner type. She believes that her characteristics will serve the next chapter at KAMP by bridging the divide and increasing representation that aligns with the world around us.

The GIS profession is lush with talented people who work to parlay information about the world, which we all share and it is Ashley’s goal to see that global inclusion is represented in membership and opportunities at KAMP in the coming season.

Ashley’s  main initiatives will piggyback off of the hard work of her predecessors, leveraged in order to continue  KAMP’s trajectory for adaptive and positive change by increasing and retaining KAMP’s membership.

Here is how she plans to make those initiatives come to fruition:

Ashley would love to amend the by-laws to allow retired members who have a history in good standing access to free membership in lieu of mentoring a “New or Early GIS Career Professional” or Student. You might notice that language doesn’t say “Young Career”, that is because she is a new career professional, and thus avoiding the use of the former terminology which may suggest that those opportunities might not be available for members like her. It only takes small changes in our language to foster diversity, inclusion and to grow our membership.

Ashley’s initiative also includes developing an outreach format for KAMP members to help them connect with their Kentucky Alma Maters during Geography Club meetings, GIS Day and Geography Week, as they introduce students to KAMP and foster the Protege program mentioned above.

Ashley earned her nickname “The Map Nerd” by being a corny enthusiast for all things geospatial including her obsession with lidar, photogrammetry and cartography. It is that enthusiasm she plans to bring with her as KAMP President elect if you will vote for her.

Her hobbies are gardening, mycology, watching meteor showers (her favorites arethe Perseids),  catching art shows during First Fridays, and flying experimental aircraft with her two sons. She is married to her soul mate.

She has a dog named Pixel and a duck named Action Bronson.

You can’t go wrong with any of the candidates beside her, but truly she would be so thankful for your vote!