Hanna Sjostrom

Strategic Advisor

Hanna Sjostrom, a woman with wavy brown hair and wearing a black cardigan over a blue top, smiles for the camera.
I focus on enabling the customer. When we finish, the customer has to have the skills to take the implementation, workflow or deliverable and apply it to their organization. We want to make sure it can be replicated to other areas. We’re not just handing over a complicated solution, we’re making sure the customer has the ability to take it over.
Hanna Sjostrom, Strategic Advisor

When she was young, Hanna was in love with maps. This was in the days of paper maps, when having a printed sheet of paper and a navigator in the car with you instead of a GPS was the way to travel. Hanna always took on the role of the navigator on her family’s trips—and it’s a role she continues to hold. Now, she guides Esri Canada customers through the execution of their geospatial goals.

A committed member of the GIS community, Hanna not only has over seven years of experience working on GIS projects in the municipal sector, but is also secretary and director of membership for BeSpatial URISA Ontario. Being involved in the community means that Hanna is constantly apprised of the latest developments both with GIS technology and in the wider profession. She brings this awareness back to her customers, which include municipalities large and small across Canada. 

The biggest issue facing her customers, Hanna says, is the need to develop tech champions. If organizations want to become GIS powerhouses, they need people who can advance widespread adoption of geo at multiple levels. So it’s not just about providing solutions: it’s about enabling customers through knowledge transfer and skill development so that those solutions produce lasting, high-value effects throughout the organization.

Experience
  • Project managed the implementation of ArcGIS Hub for a large town in Ontario, which involved developing champions within the organization. The Hub had three datasets at launch and 30 six months later, due to widespread adoption
  • Created a 5-year geospatial work plan for a large town in Ontario to help them implement GIS technology across multiple departments
Professional Style
  • Adaptable: Hanna works successfully with both technical specialists and business-minded professionals, and with customers whose cultures range from informal to highly professional.
  • Enablement-focused: Hanna’s focus is not just to deliver prepackaged solutions to her customers, but to show them how to use, expand and evolve those solutions for themselves.
  • Strategic: Hanna helps each of her customers understand where GIS fits into their organization, allowing them to maximize the power of their geospatial engine.
Qualifications and Training
  • Secretary and Director of Membership, BeSpatial URISA Ontario
  • GISP - Certified Geographic Information Systems Professional
  • B.Sc., Earth and Environmental Sciences, McMaster University
  • Geographic Information Systems Application Specialist, Fleming College

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