Prof. Ian Masser retired as Professor of Urban Planning at ITC in September 2002 after four and a half years service. Prior to that he was Professor of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Sheffield for nearly 20 years. He currently holds the positions of Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Geographical sciences at the University of Utrecht and the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London.

He received his PhD in 1975 and was awarded a LittD in 1993 by Liverpool University for his contributions to the fields of planning methods, information management and comparative planning.

Jack Dangermond is President and Chief Exectutive Officer of Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the largest GIS software developer in the world. ESRI’s flagship product, ArcGIS traces its heritage to Dangermond's initial efforts in developing Arc/INFO. He has received many awards which include The Cullum Geographical Medal of the American Geographical Society and EDUCAUSE Medal of EduCause among others. He has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees from institutions including Ferris State University, University of Redlands, University of West Hungary, City University in London, England, and from the University of Minnesota.

Dr Shailesh Nayak is Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and Chairman, Earth Commission. He worked as Director, Indian National Centre for Oceanic Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad. He obtained PhD in Geology from M. S. University of Baroda in 1980. He joined the Space Applications Centre in 1978.He has been member of many national committees related to coastal protection, coastal zone management formulated by the Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Environment and Forests, respectively. He was awarded the Indian National Remote Sensing Award for the Year 1994 by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Dehradun. He has published about 60 papers in International and National journals and atlases.

Dr V Jayaraman is Director, National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad. He holds a Master of Science in electrical engineering from IIT, Madras and a Doctorate in Physics from Bangalore University. He is recognised for his contributions in the areas ranging from spacecraft systems engineering to applications development and positioning of policies & regulatory framework for integrating the high technology inputs into national development. Dr. Jayaraman is a fellow of institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineers, Fellow of Indian Geophysical Union, Member of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Indian Society of Geomatics and Astronautical Society of India.

Maj.Gen. (Dr.) R. Sivakumar is CEO, NSDI divisions of Department of Science & Technology and head of NRDMS. He served in Army HQ as Director Military Survey. He was awarded Dolezal Prize of the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) in the congress at Held in Vienna, Austria in 1996 and Tat Scholarships and the Netherlands Government Fellowship. He is a fellow of Institution of Engineers and Institution of Surveyor s besides being a senior member of Computer Society of India, INCA and IME.

He graduated in Production Engineering with a First Rank from Sri Venkateswara University and obtained his Post Graduate Diploma in computer Methods and Programming with a Gold Medal. He obtained his PG Diploma in Production Photogrammetry with Distinction from ITC, the Netherlands. His thesis A multi-source digital topographic data base for India’ earned him the PhD from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Mr. K.R.Sridhara Murthi is currently Managing Director of Antrix Corporation Limited, which is marketing arm of Department of Space of Government of India. Prior to his current position, he was the Scientific Secretary of Indian Space Research Organisation. At ISRO he played a key role in the Technology Transfer and Industry Cooperation programme and was Counsellor (Space) at Embassy of India, Paris, promoting cooperation between ISRO and European Organisations, during 1990-94.

Mr. Murthi holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering with postgraduate qualification in Business Administration from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

He had been Indian delegate to United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and also a member of International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and a Corresponding Member of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).

Dr. Nandlal L. Sarda is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Mumbai (Bombay). He received his Masters degree and PhD at IIT Bombay, and joined as faculty at IIT, where he is teaching since 1972. He was Visiting Associate Professor at the University of New Brunswick, Canada from 1986 to 88. He was Head of the Computer Science and Engineering department at IIT Bombay from 1994 to 1997.

Mr. M.Moni is a senior technocrat of National Informatics Centre, Government of India, currently working as its Deputy Director General. With more than 24 years of professional experience, he has held several prestigious assignments including sharing important responsibilities as Principal Systems Analyst to the Former Finance Minister of India during 1985-88. He pioneered to establish the District Information System of National Informatics Centre in the 520 districts of India during 1987-96.

He is currently leading the Group for formulating ICT Plans for increasing productivity in Agriculture & Allied sectors and Water Resources Development. He is the author of more than 20 technical reports and a number of research papers.

Mr. Rajesh C. Mathur is Vice Chairman, ESRI, India, one of the world’s largest provider of GIS software. An alumnus of IIT Delhi, Mr. Mathur has been associated with the IT industry both in India and overseas for more than 25 years. Prior to his current assignment he has worked with Wipro, IDM and DCM Data Systems in India and USA. He is Vice President of Indian Society of Geomatics. He is also a member of various committees formed by Govt of India, CII and FICCI.

Mr. Mukund Kadursrinivas Rao is a GIS activist. He was the Chief Operating Officer of ESRI India. He joined Indian Space Research Organisation at Ahmedabad in 1981 after obtaining Master in Science (Geology) degree from Gujarat University. He has completed his Master in Philosophy in Remote Sensing. In his last assignment at ISRO, he worked as the Deputy Director (Technology & Systems), Earth Observations System Programme Office in ISRO Headquarters, Bangalore. He was also involved in the Systems and Technology assessment / coordination for the Indian EO programme and has worked for the development of a 25 year strategy for the Indian EO and also for repositioning National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS). He had coordinated the international interface of India’s EO programme and has represented ISRO in many international forums. He is the recipient of the Hari-Om Ashrams Vikram Sarabhai Young Scientists Award for 2002.

Dr. Nagaraja Ravoori, Group Head, NRSC Data Centre, Department of Space, (Govt. of India), Hyderabad. Dr. Nagaraja is responsible for devising procedures / methods to use GIS for Wasteland Development, Tourism Development and Land Use Change analysis under pilot / operational projects. He has used microwave and optical data to study land use dynamic and its impact on environment. Presently he is involved in the use of multi-stage data for multipurpose cadastral mapping under INDO-FRG project. He was consultant to International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Rome of United Nations body for analysing trends in shifting cultivation in NE India using Remote Sensed Data.

Dr. Nagaraja received INRS award in 1999 by ISRS, Dehradun and Best Scientist/Engineer Award for 1977-1998 by FAPCCI. Elected as fellow of AP Academy of Sciences in 2000. He was invited for FAO - UNEP expert consultation on strategies for land cover at Florence, Italy in 2002. He has published a book on “Space Technology and Geography” published by NRSA.