VSolvit - About - Team Members

About >> Team Members

Team Members

Our team has decades of hands on experience in geospatial technology, information technology and program management across various verticals such as Geographic Information System, Non-Profit/Education, Government Organizations, Telecommunication, Financial, and Pharmaceutical industries – thereby enabling us to leverage best practices across industries. Our team has experience building award winning products, and delivering services to a multitude of customers, in multiple environments, with varying complexity and budgets.

Payal Kamdar

Payal founded VSolvit after significant experience of building organizations and tools from ground up. Her experience spans across the profit, non-profit and government sectors. She measures her success based on two important criteria – (1) how well is VSolvit able to serve its customers, and (2) how well does VSolvit enables its team members to elevate their individual and team performance. Payal has a BS in Computer Science, MS in Geographic Information Systems, and is an Oracle Certified Professional. Payal maintains her technical competency (and lowers corporate overhead costs) by participating as a technical member on Geospatial projects. Outside of VSolvit, she can often be seen chauffeuring her 2 wonderful daughters.
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Ashish Shah

Ashish has proven experience in consulting, product development, and project / program management. He believes in crossing over best practices across the industries to effectively solve complex problems through proven solutions. A Peter Drucker disciple (and graduate) he strives to infuse “Druckerism” within VSolvit’s culture. Ashish has BS in Computer Science, Masters in Bioscience, Masters of Business Administration, and is a certified Project Management Professional.
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Daniel Sandhaus

Dan has been working in the field of GIS for over 14 years and has a wide array of experience in different applications of GIS. In particular, his interests lie in scientific, natural resources, and environmental applications of GIS. He worked for about 5 years at the US Geological Survey where he contributed to the development and management of The National Map and the Geospatial One-Stop catalog of on-line geospatial data. Prior to that Dan was one of the lead developers for the EPA’s BASINS watershed assessment and water quality modeling tool. BASINS and similar GIS applications developed by Mr. Sandhaus were used to perform hundreds of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) assessments for the EPA. Mr. Sandhaus has also developed GIS applications for facilities management, school bus routing, water and sewer application tracking, and environmental impact assessment. Dan also worked for over 15 years as an environmental hydrogeologist performing environmental assessments, investigations, and remediation at industrial facilities and hazardous waste sites. Dan can often be found sailing on the nearby Potomac River in Washington, DC.
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Anthony Holdener

Anthony began programming at the age of eight on his parents' IBM PCjr and has been hooked on computers ever since. In 1997, he helped to open and operate an Internet cafe (Cyber-Safari Internet Cafe) in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where he served as the systems administrator. Since graduating from St. Louis University with a degree in Computer Science, Anthony has worked as a web architect, developer, analyst, and IT manager for over ten years for a number of companies in the St. Louis area. Currently he is a Senior GIS Web Developer at VSolvIT, contracted to the USDA Rural Development where he is helping to build them an enterprise GIS system. He is concentrating on web application development using Esri's ArcGIS JavaScript API and a combination of Dojo and jQuery. Anthony has also worked as an adjunct teaching at Southwestern Illinois College and he is currently on their Computer Science Administration Advisory Committee. Anthony is considered very knowledgeable in Web technologies by his peers, having published "Ajax: The Definitive Guide" (O'Reilly Media).
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Noel Weichbrodt

Noel is a software engineer with a passion for programming languages and in supporting open government. In 2008 he co-developed the world’s only javascript go engine. He also has extensive experience in harmonizing semantic ontologies through automated semantic match mapping and persisted crosswalk. Noel has a B.A. in both philosophy and computer science and he is presently working on his master’s thesis at Washington University in St. Louis in computer science. In his free time Noel is an avid biker, riding anywhere he can on his fleet of bicycles.
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Christen Kitchell

Christen has a deep passion for building a sustainable environment and economy by finding innovative solutions through technology and the sharing of information. Her expertise comes from engagement across many departments including business development, consulting, and technical IT and GIS services. She has worked for the energy industry, government, and non-profits sectors. Christen has a B.S. in Anthropology & Sociology and a M.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration on the use of GIS in public policy and administration. Christen loves traveling and SCUBA diving with her husband 2LT Daniel Kitchell.
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Josh Coefer

Josh first began using GIS as research tool while studying the relationship between road salt contamination and land use practices in New England during his time at Boston College. He has experience in biology, geology, environmental science, GIS, education, and scientific research. As a GIS analyst with VSolvit, Josh enjoys finding innovative ways of using the latest GIS technology to solve problems in different industries. He’s an avid believer that any organization, regardless of their industry, can benefit from using GIS. Josh is particularly interested in using Web GIS to improve collaboration among scientific researchers and to share scientific discoveries with the public. When he’s not busy developing geodatabases and GIS applications, Josh likes to travel with his wife Dorrie and their two dogs.
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Kyle Valkenburg

Kyle has extensive experience creating, editing and managing GIS databases and performing various GIS analysis. Kyle has been a GIS analyst on numerous database and mapping projects for local, county, and state government agencies as well as private clients. Kyle has worked on the development of custom GIS tools and applications for desktop and mobile GIS and has knowledge of Model Builder and Python script in automating data processes. In his spare time, Kyle enjoys music, reading, and going on long runs and/or hikes with his wife and two dogs.
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