CHESTERTOWN, MD—Dr. Christopher K. Tucker will share
his experiences as the Chief Strategic Officer of the CIA’s
venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, in a free public lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 25
at Washington College. The talk will take place at 7 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture
Hall on the main campus, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown.
Tucker
will discuss the problem that In-Q-Tel was created to solve, the business model
that was created and some challenges the organization faced at its inception.
He also will provide an overview of a variety of investments made under his
watch, both the successful and not-so-successful, and share lessons learned for
entrepreneurs, investors, national security leaders and other public sector
decision makers.
Throughout
his career, Tucker has worked at the intersection of technology, strategy,
geography, and national security. He now manages Yale House Ventures, a
portfolio of social ventures and technology companies that span the worlds of
energy, geospatial technologies, cyber-security, open-source software and
hardware, and social media technologies. In that role, Tucker addresses issues
that span the domains of defense, international affairs, civilian government,
commercial industry, NGOs and academe.
Prior
to his time in industry, he served as Special Advisor to the Executive Vice
Provost of Columbia University, where he focused on strategic R&D portfolio
development and federal science technology and policy. He also co-founded what
is now the Consortium on Science, Policy and Outcomes.
A
leader in the geospatial industry, he serves on the boards of the U.S.
Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, the Open Geospatial Consortium, and OpenPlans
and its open-source software division OpenGeo. Tucker has served on numerous
task forces and committees and currently serves as an independent advisor to
the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Tucker’s
talk is sponsored by the College’s GIS Program, the GRW Program, the Center for
Environment & Society, and the Business Management Department.
While
at Washington College, Tucker also will give students presentations on his new
MapStory Foundation social venture. He will speak to the “Navigating Maps” GRW
class at 8:30 a.m. and the “Introduction to GIS” class at 12:30 p.m. on
Wednesday, Sept. 26. Guests are welcome to sit in on these classes, as
well. For more on the Washington College GIS program, please visit http://gis.washcoll.edu/.
