OpenGeo has hired Brian Monheiser to head the geospatial software company’s sales efforts in the defense and intelligence markets. Monheiser was previously one of the top federal agency account managers at Esri.
As Director of Defense and Intelligence Programs, Monheiser is responsible for advising and consulting on all aspects of OpenGeo technology within the Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC), relative to Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT). A native of Colorado, Monheiser honorably served as a Geospatial Intelligence Analyst in United States Marine Corps from 1998 until 2002.
The company has also added former Carahsoft virtualization lead Chris Harrison to its public sector sales ranks. At Carahsoft, Harrison was responsible for helping Department of Defense agencies reduce costs and improve operational efficiency through the use of virtualization technology.
Hiring Monheiser and Harrison strengthens OpenGeo’s position in a market segment increasingly interested in adopting the kind of software OpenGeo develops. Long the domain of rigid desktop software that locks customers into restrictive and costly licensing contracts, OpenGeo’s open source geospatial software provides a modern, flexible alternative to legacy systems. Last week, the company entered into a strategic investment and technology development agreement with In-Q-Tel (IQT), the independent strategic investment firm that identifies innovative technology solutions to support missions of the U.S. intelligence community.
“Sales leaders like Brian and Chris have seen the market shift firsthand in their daily interaction with customers,” said OpenGeo CEO Eddie Pickle. “In geospatial we’re seeing what the server market saw as Linux took off: customers no longer accept being locked into a license; they want to be part of a community, not beholden to a company. Open source geospatial software enables enterprise customers to innovate at the pace required, make choices based on capabilities rather than IP ownership, and scale their software deployments at manageable cost.”
The OpenGeo Suite is a complete geospatial software stack containing all of the necessary components needed to analyze and publish geospatial data, including an integrated spatial database, application server, web client API, and a desktop GIS tool.
About OpenGeo
OpenGeo is the world leader for commercial open source geospatial software. Our global customer base uses the OpenGeo Suite, a complete open source geospatial web services stack, to deploy solutions for web mapping, transportation, telecommunications, open government and a diverse range of other solutions. The OpenGeo Suite provides the best, continually updated geo web services platform along with maintenance agreements that include support and training. These agreements provide our customers with superior value and the growing functionality of continually enhanced open source geospatial software.
OpenGeo supports open source communities by employing key developers of PostGIS, GeoServer, and OpenLayers. We are committed to the ideals of open source and aim to bring the best practices of open source software to organizations around the world.
