New Group to Advocate for GPS Industry

Tags: GPS, NovAtel, Garmin, Trimble, Topcon Positioning Systems,
Publication: GPSWorld.com
Publication Date: 02/26/2013

GPS Constellation. Image credit: GPS.gov

A new group to support the “ever-increasing importance of GPS” has formed in Washington, D.C. The GPS Innovation Alliance incorporates and replaces both the U.S. GPS Industry Council (USGIC) and the Coalition to Save Our GPS.

The alliance is expected to be the voice of the U.S. GPS industry and community of users by taking a more aggressive approach inside the nation’s capital. According to its official website, the group’s members come from companies such as John Deere, Garmin, Trimble, NovAtel and Topcon Positioning Systems – all previously members of the USGIC.

Michael Swiek, former executive director of the USGIC, has assumed the same role at the GPS Innovation Alliance. He will work with executive branch departments of the U.S. government, and continue dialogs with governmental, private sector and academic entities in areas critical to GPS and satellite navigation among key players in the world.

Heather Hennessey, a principal of Innovative Federal Strategies LLC, has been appointed as the groups’s legislative branch executive director. It is expected that Jim Kirkland, vice president and general counsel for Trimble, will assume an active role in representing the alliance on Capitol Hill.

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