RONDA SCHRENK

Ronda Schrenk has always loved maps, and that has shaped her career. Geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, as it’s known in the trade, “is about understanding the world around us — to include all that happens on, above and below the earth’s surface — and working to make sense of that data,” she says. “You could say that I am a lifelong GEOINTer.”

Schrenk spent almost 22 years at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, where she donned several impressive hats, including chief of the Counterterrorism Airborne Analysis Center. Five years ago, she left that federal agency to become vice president of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation and was named CEO just as COVID hit the educational nonprofit hard. With the help of two women on her executive team, however, the foundation did better than survive — it thrived. “I am especially proud of our robust scholarship program, where we award more than $125,000 annually to college-bound students from the undergrad to doctoral degrees,” Schrenk says.

Perhaps surprisingly, the biggest obstacle Schrenk says she faced in advancing in a male-dominated field was herself: “Me, me and me. Time and time again, I held myself back for a variety of both real and imagined reasons.” She credits a few mentors for helping her eventually find her voice.

“Build a professional network of colleagues, mentors and friends,” she advises those who would follow in her path. “Create close relationships where you can grow and learn and where you can help others advance as well.”

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