"The State GIS Board met yesterday and at the close of the meeting presented Sharon with an Outstanding Service recognition. I wanted to share this acknowledgment, and join me in congratulating Sharon for her service to the Board and GIS users throughout the state."
— Shelby Johnson, Arkansas Geographic Information Officer
Sharon first came onto the GIS Board in 2014, she had already been engaged in GIS coordination well before serving on the Board through her work at ARDOT and through the Arkansas GIS Users Forum. That coordination increased with her appointment to the Board. In 2017 The National States Geographic Information Council presented Sharon with the Geospatial Champion Award for her Advances in the ‘create it once, use it a bunch’ credo for efficiently delivering valued geospatial data and services across a broad enterprise of users. She became Vice-Chair of the Board and then in 2018 she became Chair of the Board. She has led the Board on numerous strategic issues. In 2017 Sharon advocated for ARDOT to participate in cooperative funding for the Imagery Program that resulted in $150,000 of additional funding to support higher resolution imagery.
She led a coalition of practitioners in the GIS Office, ARDOT and local stakeholders in a first of its kind database that married the Arkansas Centerline File with ARDOT’s Linear Referencing System in response to a federal highways mandate. That system provided Mayors, County Judges and State Transportation Officials with the most accurate accounting of City, County, State, Federal and Private Road mileages of both paved and unpaved roads in Arkansas’ history.
Sharon was reappointed to the GIS Board in 2019 and has capably served as the Chair for the last four years. Members are only eligible to serve two consecutive four year terms and Sharon’s term completed this year. While she may no longer have a formal appointment to the Board there is no doubt she will always be welcome at the table. Sharon’s thoughtful approach has never been about what is in it for me, or my department but instead what is the greatest good for Arkansas. Her infectious passion for GIS is unmistakable, and the GIS community has benefited tremendously from her years of involvement.
In recognition of her outstanding service to the GIS Board and GIS stakeholders throughout Arkansas and beyond we present this small token of recognition and thanks.
Congratulations Sharon!
— Arkansas GIS Users Forum
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