REDLANDS, Calif., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- ESRI welcomes Ahmed Abukhater, GISP, as the new community development industry solutions manager on its government team. Abukhater will focus on planning and economic development including industry-wide enterprise geographic information system (GIS) and planning 2.0 initiatives.

"GIS provides the tools planners need to make informed decisions and better align with government transparency and accountability goals," said Abukhater. "I am excited to work with the global planning community to develop solutions that cater to their unique planning and geodesign needs today and in the future."

Abukhater most recently worked as a project manager for the University of Texas at Austin, where he initiated and implemented the first campuswide GIS system for Wi-Fi access point inventory in the country. Prior to that, he worked as a GIS coordinator for the Center for Sustainable Development at the University of Texas at Austin and as a city planner for the City of Champaign, Illinois.

With extensive experience utilizing and teaching GIS in planning fields, he has an in-depth understanding of a number of areas including environmental science, sustainable development, community development, planning support systems, multicriteria evaluation, groundwater modeling, cultural hydrology, spatial morphology, conflict resolution and mediation, and equitable water resources management and allocation.

"Ahmed's holistic approach to addressing everyday community development needs will help government organizations as they use GIS to meet key objectives, integrate Web 2.0 technology, and improve services," said Jack Dangermond, ESRI president. "He is a great addition to the government team."

About ESRI

Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. ESRI applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. ESRI is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at www.esri.com.

ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, GIS by ESRI, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

    Press Information
    Contact: Emily Vines, ESRI
    Tel.: 909-793-2853, extension 1-3571
    E-mail: press@esri.com
     Images Available upon Request

Web site: http://www.esri.com/