Each year, USGIF offers the Golden Ticket Program as an opportunity for young professionals age 35 or younger to attend the GEOINT Symposium to meet and hear from senior GEOINT leaders and innovators in a personalized setting. Golden Ticket awardees represent the future of the GEOINT community, a cadre of promising individuals who have made major strides in their early GEOINT careers.

Golden Ticket winners receive complimentary full registration to the Symposium and participate in an exclusive program that includes mentoring sessions with esteemed GEOINT leaders, attending the USGIF Chairman’s Reception, and much more.

A committee including reviewers from the USGIF Young Professionals Working Group and senior leaders in the GEOINT community combed through fantastic applications from folks across government, industry, and academia to build a cohort of top participants. This year, USGIF selected 23 individuals for the Young Professionals Golden Ticket Program.

The winners of the 2022 Golden Ticket Program are:

• Amanda Binford, Maxar
• Jack Brandy, NGA
• Christopher Buechner, Maxar
• Ellie Cardenal, AECOM
• Andy Courtney, Axim Geospatial, LLC
• Natalie Dillinger, C2S Consulting Group
• Samantha Driegert, Accenture Federal
• Rachel Frodsham, NGA
• Saira Khan, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
• James Lee Knaust, Jr., Accenture Federal
• Andrew McGowan, Parsons
• Sydney Montague, NGA
• Lauren Regiec, Carasoft
• Daniel Slocum, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Candi Thomson, Wiser
• Emma Green, Axim Geospatial, LLC
• Rebecca Malone, NGA
• Anna Kiefer, Orbital Insight
• Leah Kirk, Guidehouse
• Amy Kohnstamm, AWS
• Hannah Shumway, Esri
• Alexander Piedl, NGA
• Jeffrey Taylor, AWS