Former Exec to Share Business and Tech Lessons from CIA Venture-Capital Fund, In-Q-Tel, Sept. 25

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Dr. Christopher K. Tucker will share his experiences as the Chief Strategic Officer of the CIA’s venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, in a free public lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 25 at Washington College. The talk will take place at 7 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall on the main campus, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown.

         Tucker will discuss the problem that In-Q-Tel was created to solve, the business model that was created and some challenges the organization faced at its inception. He also will provide an overview of a variety of investments made under his watch, both the successful and not-so-successful, and share lessons learned for entrepreneurs, investors, national security leaders and other public sector decision makers.

            Throughout his career, Tucker has worked at the intersection of technology, strategy, geography, and national security. He now manages Yale House Ventures, a portfolio of social ventures and technology companies that span the worlds of energy, geospatial technologies, cyber-security, open-source software and hardware, and social media technologies. In that role, Tucker addresses issues that span the domains of defense, international affairs, civilian government, commercial industry, NGOs and academe.

            Prior to his time in industry, he served as Special Advisor to the Executive Vice Provost of Columbia University, where he focused on strategic R&D portfolio development and federal science technology and policy. He also co-founded what is now the Consortium on Science, Policy and Outcomes.

         A leader in the geospatial industry, he serves on the boards of the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, the Open Geospatial Consortium, and OpenPlans and its open-source software division OpenGeo. Tucker has served on numerous task forces and committees and currently serves as an independent advisor to the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

            Tucker’s talk is sponsored by the College’s GIS Program, the GRW Program, the Center for Environment & Society, and the Business Management Department.

            While at Washington College, Tucker also will give students presentations on his new MapStory Foundation social venture. He will speak to the “Navigating Maps” GRW class at 8:30 a.m. and the “Introduction to GIS” class at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 26.  Guests are welcome to sit in on these classes, as well. For more on the Washington College GIS program, please visit http://gis.washcoll.edu/.