Our Leadership

Board President Tom Dwyer - SVP and Chief Appraiser | Bank of Hope​

Tom Dwyer previously held a site selection analyst position in the Real Estate Department of Maryland-based supermarket chain Giant Food, and held research positions at the International Council of Shopping Centers and data firm REIS.  He entered commercial real estate appraisal with a New York City-based firm in 1999.  His assignments have ranged from Wall Street skyscrapers to conservation easement valuations on Upstate New York dairy farms and apple orchards.  He was hired as an appraisal reviewer by a Los Angeles-based nationwide Bank in 2013 and has advanced to the position of Chief Appraiser, where he directs the bank’s nationwide appraisal function responsible for the valuation of several billion dollars of real estate, businesses, aircraft, and machinery & equipment annually.  He holds Certified General appraisal licenses in New York and California, earned the MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute, and has bachelor’s degrees in Urban Planning and Geography from University of Maryland, and a master’s degree in Geography from University of Cincinnati.  He has been widely cited in national publications for his commercial real estate expertise and has also published numerous articles on retail and real estate-related topics.  He is a U.S. Navy veteran who served in Operation Desert Storm and now lives in Simi Valley, CA with his wife Pamela.  He has been continuously active with the organization now known as AGX since attending his first Applied Geography Conference in 1994.

Conference Director Dr. Dawna Cerney - Associate Professor | Department of Geography | Youngstown State University

Dr. Dawna Cerney holds a PhD in Environmental Geography.  As a professional geographer, she maintains a broad lens of understanding relationships that create unique characteristics of “place”. Her work draws deeply on knowledge in systems theory, landscape change, ecological function and resiliency which frame her approach to problem identification and solutions. As an educator and researcher within higher education, she specifically examines landscape level structural change and alteration of ecosystems within complex landscapes under compound environmental pressures. This work helps inform landscape design and policy on public land. She also combines her expertise in geography with her degree in Environmental Design, to align with the changing needs of students and to support urban and rural renewal in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Her authentic understanding of natural and human systems guides communities to design community restoration and renewal with a long-term forward-looking lens predicated on balancing environmental, social, and economic needs. Dawna’s work also includes and supports geography education, field studies and online/virtual learning, equability in the geography workplace and promotion of professional geography in the workplace. 

Outreach Director Linda Peters - Business Development | Esri

Linda Peters has over 25 years of experience working in the geospatial industry.   Working for Esri for 18+ years, Linda has consulted with companies across industries helping them achieve greater efficiencies by leveraging GIS and spatial analysis.  Linda today works with National Statistical offices across the globe, helping them understand how to apply geographic methods and GIS to census and statistical activities. 
Linda is a member of the UN GGIM Expert Group on the Integration of Statistical and Geospatial Information, as well as Big Data working groups, and has consulted with other expert groups. 
Ms. Peters is currently a board member of Applied Geography and past President of the Business Geography Specialty Group.  In 2014, Linda authored Esri’s MOOC “The Location Advantage”, designed to teach students how to apply geospatial technology to business.  Most recently, Ms. Peters co-authored the book “GIS and the 2020 Census:  Modernizing Official Statistics”.

Treasurer Dr. Chetan Tiwari - Associate Professor | Departments of Geosciences and Computer Science | Georgia State University

Dr. Chetan Tiwari is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Geosciences and Computer Science at Georgia State University. He also directs the Center for Disaster Informatics and Computational Epidemiology (DICE) at GSU. He has served on the AGX Board of Directors as Treasurer since 2019. His research interests lie at the intersection of GIS, spatial data handling, and risk assessment for applications in public health, disaster preparedness, and emergency response. His research is highly interdisciplinary involving collaborators from Computer Science & Engineering, Environmental Science, and Public Health. He has authored and co-authored over forty articles and chapters in outlets including the American Journal of Public Health; Annals of the American Association of Geographers; Transactions in GIS; Ecosystem Services; Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems; Environmental Science & Policy; International Journal of Health Geographics; among others. 

Secretary Richard Quodomine - Program Manager | Clean Waters Task Force | City of Philadelphia

​Rich Quodomine is the Program Manager of the Clean Waters Task Force for the city of Philadelphia. This portfolio includes sewer and stormwater management and best practices, climate change response, and of course, unifying all of it with geographic analysis. Richard is an author, occasional cyclist, kayaker, golfer and painter. Most importantly, he's the father of two wonderful young adult children. 

Journal Editor Dr. Jay Lee - Professor | Department of Geography | Kent State University

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​Jay Lee started attending the annual Applied Geography Conferences in 1992. He organized this conference series from 2008 to 2019. In his tenure as the conference executive director, Jay Lee also edited the annual volume of the Proceedings and Papers of Applied Geography Conferences, which he converted to the conference journal, Papers in Applied Geography in 2015. In its 7th volume and served as the editor-in-chief of the journal. Papers in Applied Geography publishes academic and business works that address and solve practical problems our society faces. All manuscripts submitted to the conference journal go through a double-blind peer review process.