A geographer with deep roots in landscape architecture, Jack productised GIS technology after a decade of research and development as a regional planning consultant in his hometown of Redlands, California.

Today, Esri - the company he founded and continues to lead - dominates the GIS industry, and is the fourth largest privately held software company in the world.

More than one-million people - working in over 400,000 organisations throughout the commercial, government and community sectors - use the technology.

Jack is recognised not only as a pioneer in spatial analysis methods, but also as one of the most influential individuals across the geospatial landscape. He actively manages Esri and is closely connected to its projects, clients and company vision.

He takes a leadership role in national and global initiatives to facilitate standards for data access and sharing across agencies and organisations, and is personally committed to applying GIS methods for environmental stewardship and sustainable communities.

The recipient of numerous fellowships, honorary degrees and awards, Jack has authored hundreds of papers on GIS in such diverse fields as photogrammetry, computer science, planning, environmental science and cartography.

His current work is focused on helping organisations work smarter, more efficiently and effectively using a Web GIS pattern, and continuing to shape ArcGIS technology as a platform for implementing smart cities, smart utilities, smart government and smart organisations.