People news from around the industry.

Former Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer joined ESRI, Redlands, Calif., as a spokesperson. In his new role, he will spread the message that GIS technology leads to better decision making. Geringer completed his second term as governor in January 2003. Prior to the governorship, he served in the Wyoming legislature for 12 years.

NavCom Technology Inc., Torrance, Calif., added Western Latitudes to its global family of distributors. Western Latitudes offers NavCom's complete line of high accuracy, high precision GPS products as well as the Safari SR-7100 Network Radio. Western Latitudes' network of U.S. dealers also supplies expert technical support for NavCom products.

Ohio Beam Inc. dba Blue Beam with operations in Ohio and Michigan, Spectra Laser & Precision Instrument Inc. with operations in Texas, Laserline Ontario with operations in Ontario, Canada, and Construction & Survey Instruments Inc. dba GeoShack with operations in Texas and Oklahoma merged to form GeoShack North America Inc. GeoShack is based in Dayton, Ohio, and is led by Terry Studebaker as president and CEO; Robert Makenas serves as CFO. These newly combined operations are anchored by sales professionals, technical service specialists and administrative support personnel at facilities in 12 major market areas in North America, with more than 80 employees. All of the companies participating in this merger are major distributors for Trimble Navigation Ltd. Each of the existing companies will continue to operate independently under its current identity as a wholly owned subsidiary of the holding company. Eventually all operations will use the GeoShack name for all retail activities.

John Copple was appointed CEO of Sanborn. The company, formerly based in Pelham, New York, relocated its headquarters to Colorado Springs. Copple is based in the Colorado office. Copple joined Space Imaging in 1995 when the company was in its infancy. When he left his position as chairman and chief executive officer earlier this year, the company was a premier provider of satellite imagery worldwide. Prior to accepting this role with Sanborn, Copple served as a consultant to the Rand Corporation supporting the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.