Angie Spierenburg (she/her)

About me

I was born/grew up in: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

I now live in: Toronto, Ontario

I completed my training/education at: I hold an MA in Leadership from the University of Guelph. I have a BA in Geography from Saint Mary's University. I have a Diploma in Cartography from the Nova Scotia Community College's Annapolis Valley Campus (COGS).  I have a Certificate in Adult Learning and Development from the University of Toronto and a Certificate in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace from George Brown College. I am also a PROSCI certified Change Practitioner.

What I do at work

I create strategic partnerships between organizations and customers. I help our customers simplify the ways they do business. I help them reduce the complexity in their business or organization. To do this, I bring my experience in Customer Success, Sales, and Technical Support. I also bring my understanding of best practices taking place elsewhere.

To help the organization change, I empower, train, and assist team members as we work through the change process. I collaborate with managers to plan, conduct, and monitor planned changes. I mentor and coach employees by fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous learning. I continually support organizational design and definition of job roles and responsibilities.

My career path is

My high school geography teacher was the one who suggested I look at Geographic Information Systems (GIS). I decided to attend the Nova Scotia Community College's Annapolis Valley Campus (COGS). I first started my career by performing GIS data analysis and conversion processes. I have worked for various military, emergency response, and firefighting groups. I have also done work for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) organizations. I then went on to do the installation and training of GIS solutions for the management of critical 9-1-1 emergency calling services throughout the USA. From there, I moved into more sales and customer success roles. In this role I increased customer awareness of GIS products and services. I did this by suggesting new products, features, and strategies. It was during this time that I started to mentor and coach our junior employees who were just starting their careers.

During my career, I noticed the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the geomatics industry. Specifically, I noticed very few women, black, Indigenous, or other people of color working in the industry and at the management level. This made me want to go back to school and study leadership. I also wanted to learn how to support diversity, equity, and inclusion in our industry. I recently formed a partnership with the Nova Scotia Community College's Annapolis Valley Campus (COGS). We have created an Equity in Geomatics bursary. This bursary provides financial support to people who are underrepresented in the geomatics industry. This support allows them to get an education that can lead to employment in the geomatics industry.

I am motivated by

I really like being able to help folks! That's one thing I have done in all of the jobs I have had throughout my career.

How I affect peoples’ lives

I really enjoy working with our customers. I enjoy learning about what projects they are working on and how they are using Trimble technology. I also really enjoy reviewing procedures and workflows. This allows me to find ways to do things faster, better, smarter, greener, etc. I think the best thing about my job is that I get to constantly meet new people.

Outside of work I

I am a runner and a wannabe triathlete. I also work as a community volunteer for the Sporting Life 10k and Pride and Remembrance Runs in Toronto.

My advice to others

What got you here will not get you there. Understand that the will be changes throughout your career.