I am a seasoned contributor to growth in the U.S. commercial geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) industry, with 30 years of experience in identifying and implementing solutions for USG and commercial markets across a broad spectrum of satellite, airborne, and hydrographic remote sensing technologies.  Since 2017, I have been consulting with multiple clients across the commercial GEOINT industry, assisting them in shaping their products and services to better meet USG requirements, and devising strategies to increase traction in IC/DoD markets. In support of these clients, I bring to bear my deep technical expertise in commercial GEOINT technologies, including remote sensing platforms, data collection and exploitation, sensemaking, and delivery; as well as my deep understanding of IC/DoD programmatic goals, acquisition approaches, inter-agency and cross-industry relationships, and architectures.

Summary of Experience

• 30 years of experience supporting USG GEOINT evolution, related software and applications development, geographic information systems (GIS) analysis, and program management.

• 10 years of experience in shipboard oceanographic and marine biology research. 

• Senior strategist/consultant to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for acquisition and integration of commercial imagery and other geospatial products and services. Serve as trusted advisor, and often called on to be program office liaison to cross-community, public, and industry forums.  

• Led Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) support to two major NGA acquisitions (NextView - $1.5B; EnhancedView - $7.3B).  Defined system and imagery requirements, performed analyses of alternatives, contributed to NGA acquisition strategy development and other required Major System Acquisition processes/documentation, served as subject matter expert for technical and cost evaluations, and supported USG/supplier negotiations.

• Led analytic studies regarding enterprise services, system performance, and industry capabilities; provided guidance to analyses of alternatives for future integrated commercial/national architectures; and contributed to acquisition strategy development and major system/service solicitations.   

• Managed imaging satellite ground station development and operation; image processing facilities development and operation; implemented government-required Earned Value Program Management; and managed up to 32 foresters, geologists, urban planners, remote sensing analysts, GIS operators, programmers, and systems support staff in a NASA geospatial R&D/industry partnership program.  Provided fiscal management for system development efforts ranging from $1M - $16M. 

• Experienced in proposal writing, business development, and developing strategic partnering relationships with remote sensing satellite suppliers and operators, in both domestic and international business pursuits.

• Excellent technical writing and briefing skills.  Experienced in communicating complex requirements and objectives to senior government officials, lay personnel, and technical experts in a comprehensible manner

• Avid UAV operator and SCUBA diver.

Current Security Clearance:  ISA TS/SCI, SSBI 2020

Key Prior Professional Positions

Chief Technology Officer, 3 GIMBALS, October 2016 - December 2017

Senior Principal Engineer/NewSpace Outcomes Manager, The MITRE Corporation, April 2003 - October 2016

Ground Station Business Development and Program Manager, Veridian/ERIM International, June 1997 - April 2003

Principal Scientist, Lockheed-Martin NASA Stennis Space Center, December 1990 - June 1997

Professional Experience Details

December 2017 – present, Walser Analytics Consulting, LLC, Carolina Beach, NC

I provide strategic business development, market analysis, and technical consultation to multiple commercial clients across the commercial GEOINT industry, and serve as a commercial GEOINT subject matter expert for a major defense FFRDC.

October 2016 – December 2017:  3GIMBALS, LLC, Fredericksburg, VA

Chief Technology Officer.  In addition to charting corporate  technology development roadmap, I provided strategic advice, commercial GEOINT industry subject matter expertise, and technical consultation to NGA’s Senior GEOINT Authority (SGA) for Commercial Imagery.  I participated in NGA/industry and IC/DoD interactions, developed concepts for industry partnership, and advised the SGA on opportunities to align NGA’s Commercial GEOINT Strategy to other transformative initiatives across NGA.  I supported NGA’s efforts to implement this strategy by assisting supplier, customer, and FVEY partner engagements; developing alternative acquisition approaches, defining product and service scope requirements; and integrating commercial GEOINT into NSG architectures and workflows.

September 2015 – October 2016:  Consultant Engineer, Dial-Cordy and Associates Environmental Consultants, Wilmington, NC

Consulting Engineer.  I designed and built a  remotely operated vehicle (ROV) coral reef imaging/mapping system, and developed field data collection methodologies and multi-ray photogrammetry processing chains to produce three-dimensional point cloud data sets to document and assess coral reef state of health.

April 2003 – October 2016 (13+ years):  The MITRE Corporation, McLean, VA
Senior Principal Engineer and New Space Partnership Outcome Manager.  I led MITRE FFRDC team support to NGA commercial GEOINT endeavors.  I advised all NextView and EnhancedView source selection teams, providing systems engineering analysis of proposed technical solutions, as well as analysis of business and cost proposals for over $7B in commercial GEOINT acquisitions. I provided performance monitoring of contractor execution satellite and ground system development and operations.  I also contributed to systems performance analysis, analyses of alternatives, cost modeling, and the shaping of acquisition strategies.  I led the MITRE team that provided draft documentation and coordination required to execute the EnhancedView Major System Acquisition. I was frequently called on to represent NGA’s Commercial GEOINT Program Office as a liaison to internal NGA, cross-community, SETA contractor, and industry partners; and to provide subject matter expertise to studies and analyses of alternatives in cross-agency forums. I was a core member of NGA’s 2015 Commercial GEOINT Strategy team and was frequently called on to brief D/NGA, KC, and external IC and DoD leadership. 

June 1997 – April 2003 (5+ years):  Veridian Systems Division/ERIM International, Arlington, VA (now Maxar)

Business Development Manager.  I led satellite ground station business development in international (Southeast Asia, Middle East, South America) and domestic DoD/intelligence markets. I was Veridian’s lead in corporate initiatives to develop strategic partnerships with commercial remote sensing satellite operators.  I was also Veridian’s Program Manager for development and operation of the NRO/Army Eagle Vision II system, a deployable commercial satellite imagery ground station and image processing facility.  I led successful proposal efforts for baseline system development, a follow-on high-resolution satellite upgrade, and O&M support during three years of U.S. Army Eagle Vision operations. The team I led delivered and provided field support for this $16M system under budget and on schedule, using Earned Value Management methods.

December 1990 – June 1997 (6+ years):  I supported NASA’s Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) Office across three site SETA contractor transitions at Stennis Space Center, MS.

• October 1994 – June 1997: Lockheed Martin, Commercial Remote Sensing Div.  (Principal Scientist)

• July 1992 – October 1994: Sverdrup Technology, Scientific Systems Group (Sr. Scientist)

• December 1990 – July 1992: Lockheed Engineering & Sciences Co., Science Group (Scientist)

I was contractor Program Manager for several government-industry partnership programs (Visiting Investigator Program, Small Satellite Technology Program, Earth Observation Commercial Applications Program) established between NASA/CRSP and companies to foster adoption of spatial information technology.  My responsibilities included program/project development and execution for prototype geospatial applications utilizing multispectral, hyperspectral, and radar imagery; industry liaison support; and line management and project supervision for 32 systems support, web and multimedia production, and remote sensing/GIS personnel.  I provided fiscal and technical oversight of projects supporting, remote sensing image processing, applications development, geographic information system (GIS) development, multimedia and web production, image processing facilities development and office automation.  Projects that I both led and provided direct technical support included:

NASA National Verification Site Initiative: Responsible for concept development and implementation of NASA remote sensing test sites for use by U.S. commercial remote sensing industry.  I led development of formal alliances between NASA, USDA, and DOE to establish a nationwide network of agricultural verification sites.  I served as government liaison between NASA and DigitalGlobe, Resource21, and Space Imaging.

Bechtel Caspian Oil Pipeline Routing: This project assessed the utility of remote sensing imagery and GIS techniques to determine optimum cost routing for oil pipelines overseas.  I developed a prototypical least cost pipeline routing model and co-authored several lay and refereed articles resulting from this work.

Central American Deforestation: This internal NASA Earth Sciences project assessed the impact of illicit logging activity on Guatemalan rain forests.  I contributed to the processing of Landsat Thematic Mapper Imagery and developed analytical modules to quantify land cover change through time.  Satellite imagery and analyses our team produced were published in the November 1992 National Geographic article, “Mayan Heartland under Siege.”  

March 1988 – June 1997: Walser Analytical (Principal, part-time), Waveland, MS

I provided part-time contractual real-time display instrumentation systems programming, GIS database development, applications programming, and web support services.  Projects I supported included:

Tropical Ocean/Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Data Visualization System: I contracted to NASA Physical Oceanography Distributed Active Archive Center (PO/DAAC) at JPL through Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) Corp.  I developed a DOS-based graphical user interface and data viewer for CD-ROM based oceanographic, meteorological and climatic model databases distributed by NASA/JPL.  The software provided map display of surface and atmospheric parameters, times series plots of drifting buoy and ship-collected surface hydrographic data, and vertical plots of XBT data.  This software was distributed by NASA as a freeware viewer on its TOGA archive CD-ROMs. 

Multiple Interface Data Acquisition System (MIDAS): I developed a hydrographic data collection system used for mapping surface water characteristics during oceanographic cruises.  Customers were Louisiana Universities Marine (LUMCON) and the U.S. Geological Survey (Menlo Park, CA).  I installed and integrated hardware, developed software for this shipboard data acquisition and real-time visualization system, and installed it on oceanographic vessels for the above.  This DOS-based system logged data from hydrographic, meteorological, and navigational instrumentation. It provided visualization of raw data and calculated parameters in multiple displays as color-coded cruise tracks, animated strip charts, and X-Y plots.  I hold the copyright on MIDAS software.

January 1983 – December 1990 (8 years): Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Chauvin, LA

I held several positions, including Marine Technician, Research Assistant, and Doctoral Student Work Assistant.  My duties included design and installation of the laboratory’s initial computing facilities, environmental database management, instrumentation computer interface programming, operation of shipboard computer-based sampling systems, biological field sampling, and experimentation.  I accumulated over 12 months of shipboard time on oceanographic research cruises.  Projects I supported include the experimental use of NASA airborne multispectral scanners for mapping of chlorophyll and sediment distribution in near-shore waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

September 1980 – December 1983 (3 years):  I held several part-time teaching positions while attending graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNC-W).

• UNC-W, Graduate Teaching Assistant., Introductory Biology and Zoology

• Cape Fear Community College, Instructor, Introductory and Advanced BASIC Programming

• Miller-Motte Business College, Instructor, Data Processing and BASIC Programming

Education

Louisiana State University, 9/86-12/89, Ph.D. (All but dissertation) Marine Science

University of North Carolina at Wilmington, M.S. Coastal Biology 12/85

University of North Carolina at Wilmington, B.S. with Honors in Marine Biology 5/80

Publications

Precht, W.; Walser, E.; Walser, J.; Hunsaker, D.; Rice, M.; Robbart, M.; and Dial, S.  2016.  3D Mapping of Coral Reefs: Visualization, Characterization, and Quantification with Permanent, Extensive, and Information-rich Virtual Data Sets. Proceedings, 13th International Coral Reef Symposium, 19-24 June 2016, Honolulu, Hawaii.

McKellip, R.; Yuan, D.; Graham, W.; Holland, D.; Stone, D.; Walser, W., Mao, C.  1997.  Resolution verification targets for airborne and spaceborne imaging systems at the Stennis Space Center. SPIE Proceedings, 3062:26.

Feldman, S.C.; Pelletier, R.E.; Walser, W.E.; Smoot, J.C.; and Ahl, D.  1996.  GIS, remote sensing analysis used to select potential route.  Pipe Line & Gas Industry. May, 1996.  52-56. 

Feldman, S.C.; Pelletier, R.E.; Walser, E.; Smoot, J.C. & Ahl, D.  1995.  A prototype for pipeline routing using remotely sensed data and geographic information system analysis.  Remote Sensing of the Environment.  53:123-131. 

Walser, W.E. Jr.; Hughes, R.G. and Rabalais, S.C.  1992.  MIDAS speeds at-sea research.  Sea Technology.  33:29-34. 

Walser, W.E. Jr. and Hughes, R.G.  1991.  A new multiple interface data acquisition system (MIDAS) for use in shipboard environmental sampling.  Marine Technology Society 1991 Conference Proceedings.  202-205.

Dagg, M.J.; Frost, B.W. & Walser, W.E. Jr. 1989.  Copepod diel migration, feeding, and the vertical flux of pheopigments.  Limnology and Oceanography.  34:1062-1071. 

Dagg, M.J. & Walser, W.E. Jr.1987. Ingestion, gut passage, and egestion by the copepod Neocalanus plumchrus in the laboratory and in the subarctic Pacific Ocean.  Limnology and Oceanography.  32:178-188.