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 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.

Executive Director Dr. Dawna Cerney - Professor | Department of Humanities and Social Sciences | 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 Dr. Denise Blanchard - Professor | Department of Geography and Environmental Studies | Texas State University

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Dr. Denise Blanchard is a Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Texas State University specializing in natural hazards and disaster management, energy and natural resources use and management, coastal zone management, economic/business geography, historical geography, and history of geography. She has taught and produced scholarly research in these areas for more than 30 years. Denise graduated with a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an M.S. Degree in Economics from Florida State University, and B.S.B.A. Degree in Finance from Auburn University. Denise has served as Chair of the Subcommittee for Education and Outreach for the San Marcos River Watershed Protection Plan. She has served as Internship Director and Director of the James and Marilyn Lovell Center for Environmental Geography and Hazards Research in her department, as well as being named, Honorary Professor of International Studies, by the International Studies Department at Texas State University. Denise also serves as a Career Mentor for the American Association of Geographers. She joined the Board of Directors for the AGX community in 2019. 
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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. 

Incoming Journal Editor Dr. Qingmin Meng - Associate Professor | Department of GIScience | Mississippi State University

​Dr. Qingmin Meng is an associate professor in GIScience at Mississippi State University. As an expert in geospatial statistical modeling, spatial analytics of big data, and geographic artificial intelligence and computing, his research focuses on complex relationships among landscape, physical environment, natural resources, and human activities. He integrates mathematics and statistics into quantitative and qualitative geospatial modeling and visualization with vector, raster, and time series datasets. He has tackled geospatial big data integration, fusion, enhancement, segmentation, and transfer learning including massive remote sensing and vector data for ecological system classification and evaluation, environmental justice, social and physical vulnerability modeling and assessment, and the complicated climate, environmental, ecological, and social systems interactions that influence and/or drive hazards, disparity, health, and equity across diverse spatial and temporal scales. He has developed a number of data-driven and statistics-based spatial analytics tools for decision making and data science.