Education

Ph.D. Candidate, Geosciences Program, University of Montana Present

• Modeling Environmental Flows Under Water Scarcity Conditions

M.A. Global Security Studies, Johns Hopkins University 2019

• Thesis: Modeling the Effects of Climate-Induced Drought in the Tigris-Euphrates Basin.

M.S. Geology, University of Wyoming 1988

• Thesis: The Structure of Precambrian Rocks in the Western Owl Creek Mountains, WY.

B.S. Geophysical Engineering, Montana College of Mineral Science & Technology 1986

Field of Study

Selected Publications

Blundell, J. S., and D. W. Opitz. "Object recognition and feature extraction from imagery: The Feature Analyst® approach." International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 36, no. 4 (2006): C42.
Opitz D., Blundell S. (2008) Object recognition and image segmentation: the Feature Analyst® approach. In: Blaschke T., Lang S., Hay G.J. (eds) Object-Based Image Analysis. Lecture Notes in Geoinformation and Cartography. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Opitz, D., W., R. Rao, and J. S. Blundell. "Automated 3-D feature extraction from terrestrial and airborne Lidar." In ISPRS Commission IV: bridging remote sensing and GIS, 1st international conference on object-based image analysis. 2006.
Opitz, D., and Stuart Blundell. "An intelligent user interface for feature extraction from remotely sensed images." In Proc. of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, pp. 171-177. 1999.

Professional Experience

Manager GEOINT Business Development, Presagis 2019 – Present

• Responsible for global geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) business development strategy to transition 3D modeling and simulation capabilities into GEOINT solutions.
• Chairman, USGIF Modeling, Simulation & Gaming Working Group.

Vice President Sales & Business Development, BlackSky Global 2017 – 2019

• Responsible for global business development and sales of commercial small-satellite services including imaging data, cloud-based platform analytics and geospatial solutions.
• Responsible for all phases of start of commercial operations (SCO) for Sales & Business Development including prioritization of interface between product development, platform engineering, Space Operations, marketing and reporting to financial teams.
• Capture team manager for key USG pursuits including the NRO CGA’s Enhanced View Next, NRO GED Machwave, Air Force Space RCO Fireback and the Army TENCAP Direct Down-Link (DDL) programs.
• Responsible for U.S and International Data Partnerships including HawkEye 360, Capella Space, Ursa Space, Planet, Urthecast, AirBus and other satellite imagery data providers.
• Support to CEO for fund-raising efforts with venture capital firms and investment banks.

Director of Strategy & Business Development, Harris Geospatial/Exelis VIS 2012 – 2017

• Responsible for achieving $200M revenue target from diverse portfolio of USG Programs, commercial software and data sales, and custom solutions for Intelligence agencies.
• Responsible for sales forecast, pipeline management, communication to Senior Leadership on status of annual sales business goals and ownership of business development strategy.
• General Manager for global ENVI software sales including ISR exploitation products in video, LIDAR, machine learning as well as professional services for global customer base.
• Business development interface across Harris Space & Intelligence division including weather data, ISR and EW sensors, imagery science and algorithm development teams.
• Leadership role in expanding the Harris Geospatial and esri Business Partner relationship across selected D&I programs and commercial markets for ENVI and ArcGIS solutions.

Vice President of Product & Solutions, Overwatch/Textron Geospatial 2006 – 2012

• Responsible for achieving $140M revenue target from diverse portfolio of USG Programs, commercial software and data sales, and professional services for Intelligence agencies.
• Management oversight of the RemoteView product line, new product development, execution of sales strategy and customer relationships with key NGA and DoD Programs.
• Overall management responsibilities for 75 employees at three different U.S. locations. • Communications with Textron Systems Senior Leadership on business strategy, execution against plan status, and business development activities across the larger portfolio.
• Leadership role in developing the Overwatch Geospatial and Esri Business Partner relationship for new product development linking GIS and Imagery Analysis solutions.

Co-Founder Visual Learning Systems (VLS) 1997 – 2006

• Pioneer in the development of machine learning approaches for feature extraction from satellite data, airborne imagery and 3-D LIDAR in support of GIS data creation.
• Developer of Feature Analyst and LIDAR Analyst extensions for the ArcGIS platform. • Principal Investigator on $6M dollars of Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) awards from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, NASA and the National Science Foundation.
• U.S. Army SBIR Contractor of the Year Award (2006). • Esri Business Partner of the Year (2004). • Navigated successful sale of the business to Overwatch Systems in 2006.