SSSI’s new President Gabriel van Wyk (left) is congratulated by past-president Bernard O’Sullivan (right).
The Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) has announced the appointment of Gabriel van Wyk as the national association’s new President. Gabriel van Wyk has now replaced Bernard O’Sullivan who has served in the role since 2015.
Gabriel has been Chair of SSSI NSW since 2012 and has been a SSSI director since 2014 and officially stepped into the role of President at the SSSI AGM held in Canberra on Thursday 24th November 2016.
We need to be the ‘plum bob’ AND the CORS network of this industry.”- Gabriel van Wyk
Gabriel is the Chief Solutions Architect at Open Spatial where he leads a team of spatial consultants operating in Australia, South Africa and North America.
In his opening presidential message, Gabriel indicated that he has a clear vision of the new directions he hopes to bring to SSSI: “I hope to foster an environment of trust and discourse where members will feel that the leadership listens and pays attention the members,” he said. “We have the opportunity to build on the good work that has already been done, but we can only do so by listening.”
“I am acutely aware of the disunity in our wider industry and I will continue to work towards closer collaboration with other organisations,” he continued. “I have a clear vision of where we need to be in twenty years, and I am intent on mapping out the pathway to get there. I also want us to rise to the challenges of a disruptive economy, and I won’t mind if our institute sets the pace! To do that, we need to modernise our events, raise the recognition profile for all of the SSSI certification programs. We need to be the ‘plum bob’ AND the CORS network of this industry.”
“In accepting this challenge I am honoured, humbled and resolute. Honoured because of the profile of the members in this institute, humbled when I review the list of my predecessors, and resolute because I understand the challenges I am faced with. I look forward to meeting with many of you personally at some of our events, and would like to encourage everyone to meet us at Locate 17 in Sydney next year.”
