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Ms. Melissa A. Planert is the Director, Tradecraft and Technology Group, Analysis Directorate. In this role, she provides strategic leadership on advancing analytic skills and methods as well as the development of technology to support community modernization goals.

Ms. Planert joined NGA’s Analysis Directorate in 2015, serving in senior roles in Analysis operations and tradecraft offices. From 2007-2015 she served in the Office of International Affairs, where she managed a number of NGA’s international partnerships, including a three-year assignment to Brussels, Belgium, as the Senior Liaison to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union.

Prior to joining NGA in 2007, Ms. Planert served in the US Air Force, retiring as a colonel (reserve). During her career she served in acquisition, logistics, and policy positions in the US and Europe. She volunteered for active duty to support operations overseas. As a colonel she also held several positions at US Air Force headquarters.

Sierra Sellman serves the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency as supervisory data scientist within the Director’s Data Corps Office. In this role she leads a team of data professionals in pursuit of modernizing and advancing intelligence analysis operations. During her 11 year tenure at NGA, Sierra Sellman has led numerous GEOINT teams executing technical and data initiatives to create, access, analyze, and visualize information to support national security priorities. She has delivered automation of intelligence products, developed tools to simplify modeling processes, integrated numerous systems, and delivered big-data analytic capabilities. Additionally, she has drafted agency strategies and served as a trusted advisor to top-level leadership.

Ms. Sellman holds a BA in Geology from Albion College, an MS in Geographic and Cartographic Systems from George Mason University, and MS in Predictive Analytics from DePaul University. Ms. Sellman lives in northern Virginia with her husband and children (6 and 3).

Ichesia Veal serves the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as the Chief of the Commercial GEOINT Discovery Division within the Source Directorate’s Commercial and Business Operations Group. In this role she leads market research and discovery efforts of emerging and innovative commercial GEOINT solutions.

Prior to this, she served in multiple capacities within NGA, as a program performance officer conducting resource management assessments, as a technical advisor for commercial GEOINT capability assessments and an analytical production lead. Additionally, for more than six years, Ms. Veal served as an imagery scientist in NGA’s Analysis Directorate. In this role she exploited, modeled, and analyzed remote sensing data.

Prior to working for NGA, Ms. Veal was an analyst at the National Ground Intelligence Center. Ms. Veal holds both a master’s degree in materials science and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Norfolk State University. Ms. Veal lives in northern Virginia with her husband and children.

Suzanne Alessi serves the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency as the Analytic Advisor and Executive Officer of the Analysis Tradecraft and Technology Group. In this role she supports NGA leadership with communicating to the workforce on tradecraft and technology initiatives, engaging with industry, and strategic planning for implementing emerging technology for GEOINT analysis. Prior to this, she served a Computer Vision Subject Matter Expert, leading efforts to evolve tradecraft at NGA for the successful adoption of computer vision applications. She also served as a Strategic Sciences Lead, building partnerships and shaping initiatives with commercial GEOINT data providers. As an imagery scientist, she worked in NGA’s Analysis Directorate for four years analyzing remote sensing data and leading tradecraft and training development for satellite imagery.

Ms. Alessi has a bachelor’s degree in Earth and Planetary Science from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s in Information Systems from George Mason University. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, child (age 1), and pet bird.