Member Spotlight: Jason Fetch

We've brought back the Member Spotlight series so we can all get to know each other better.  Do you know a WLIA colleague that you think people should know?  Let us know via e-mailing us at communications@wlia.org with their contact information.  We may not get to everyone, but we'll try!

It's my pleasure to introduce Jason Fetch, a familiar face to many as a Senior Account Manager at Esri who supports many of the larger communities across our state. Jason excels in guiding communities across Wisconsin on a wide range of concerns, from shaping geospatial strategies to demystifying the complexities of Esri billing. Regardless of the challenge, Jason is sure to make a task feel more manageable and working with Esri a bit more personable. Take the opportunity to explore Jason Fetch's journey and discover what fuels his interests both professionally and personally.

How did you come to your current profession or job?  
I had worked at my previous company for 18 years before coming to Esri. My former company was a civil engineering firm, which specialized in rural/regional water systems. I started my career there as a coating (paint) inspector for water towers. While I was watching the paint dry, I read the ArcView 3.x user guide, which is where my passion for GIS began. From there I became a GIS Technician, then GIS Developer, then Manager. Eventually I managed both the GIS and CAD groups. When the oil boom hit Western North Dakota in the Bakken region, I became a Sr. Project Manager. In that role I would oversee teams of Engineers, Surveyors, Landmen, GIS Professionals and CAD Technicians, sometimes with up to 300 people working on a project. The reason I was able to lead this project so effectively, is because of my ability to utilize GIS at every step of the way, including design, environmental, cultural resources, land/easement acquisition, construction inspection, and as-builting. We used GIS to support dynamic design process, all in real-time.

I spent 6 years working on infrastructure projects in the oil patch until the bust happened, and theprojects dried up. After working in a very fast paced and dynamic environment, I had a hard time readjusting back to the work I had previously done, and I needed a change. I remembered going to my first Esri UC back in 2001 and seeing Jack Dangermond speak at the Plenary…I was hooked for life. I came home and told my wife that I was going to work for that man someday. Fast forward 16 years…I wasn’t happy with what I was doing, so I connected with Esri. I found there was a position open in Minneapolis, then a couple months later I’m living in Minnesota, working on the Esri State & Local Government team, and supporting Esri Users in Wisconsin. I still have the privilege of working with many of those same Esri Users to this day.  

What’s your most favorite part and least favorite part of your job? 
My favorite part of my job is visiting the users I support and getting to do nothing but talk about GIS the whole time. Honestly, I love working with Esri Users, everyone in the community is passionate about GIS, is doing amazing things with the technology, and I get to hear about it. I share that same passion for GIS. My least favorite part of the job is that I don’t really get to touch the technology anymore. That’s hard for me since I utilized the technology so much in my past job and did some truly amazing things. However, I’m happy just seeing the amazing work being done by the Esri Users I support.

Can you share any memorable stories of innovative uses of GIS technology you've seen during your visits to users? 
This might not seem overly innovative, but it is actually extremely impactful for expanding access to GIS. Over the past couple of years, I’ve spent a substantial amount of time working with organizations on Geospatial Strategies and Roadmaps. Without a vision for the GIS Program, governance and engagement strategies, as well as foundational geospatial infrastructure, it’s hard to foster innovation. WLIA has been instrumental in growing GIS in Wisconsin through the WLIP. However, as the demand for GIS has grown to an organizational level, with more and more nontraditional users needed to use the technology, it’s put a strain on resources. GIS Teams in Wisconsin have been a bit of a victim of their own success, they done such as great job that everyone in the organization wants more, so a good strategy and vision is so important. 

I can definitely see how challenging it would be to give up the chance to be hands-on with GIS. It's reassuring to know that our Esri representative has genuine interest and enthusiasm for the work we do—it's clear that your current role suits you well. From your experience as an account manager with Esri, working with diverse GIS organizations, I imagine you've broadened your understanding of how various specialties utilize GIS. Is there a particular specialty or aspect of GIS that you'd be most excited to explore if you were still doing the hands-on work?

During my time working for engineering firms, I really enjoyed the office-to-field-to-office workflows. For example, when we designed a regional water system, the design work was done in the office, and then those designs went into the field for construction. During construction, inspectors would capture construction-related information, such as quantities and change orders, as well as record the as-built locations of the assets. All of this information and data was sent back to the office. Once construction was finished, the asset inventory data was provided to the system’s owner, which was used in the field for operations and maintenance workflows. I think I would really enjoy managing a Utility Network for a Water system and then enabling a mobile workforce. Then connect real-time into systems like SCADA, and do 3D design for treatment plants and control facilities within the system. Basically, I would love to have Emily Champagne’s job. 😊

What’s the best advice someone has ever given you?
Just to be humble and lead through service to others. I think the times that you get the most satisfaction out of life is when you serve others with no expectation of anything in return.

What do you like to do for fun?  (Hobbies, volunteer work, etc)
I have two main hobbies, I’ve been playing guitar since I was 14 and still play every day, and all three of my daughters played Hockey (My youngest plays for the University of Maine) so we love spending time in rinks and watching on TV. 

That's awesome! What drew your family to hockey as a sport? What do you enjoy most about it? 
I was always into music, I never really played many sports growing up. I enjoyed watching football and basketball, but I never got into hockey. When my oldest daughter Makenzie began preschool, she started trying different sports. She was telling one of her friends at preschool, who also lived across the street from us, that she was going to try figure skating, he said “Why don’t you try hockey instead?” She did, and loved it, which led to all three of my daughters and three of my nieces all playing hockey. What I love about hockey, is that it is more of a lifestyle than a sport. Any hockey parent will get that. The hockey community is a really tight-knit group and we’ve met so many great people and gained so many friends through hockey, I can’t image my life without it. Plus, it is a super fast-paced game that requires a ton of skill to play. It amazes me how hockey players can do what they do.

What’s something most people wouldn’t guess about you?
You may not know this about me, but I am in a band that writes original music. We play live shows around Minneapolis and St. Paul and are going to start playing in Wisconsin next year. Our goal is to play Rock Fest in Chippewa Falls this summer…we’ve already submitted our application and spoken to the promoters.

Very cool to hear that you keep up with a creative pursuit and have an active band. Would you mind sharing the band's name? How long have you been playing together, and what brought you all together? Are there any guitarists you particularly enjoy or draw inspiration from?
I started playing guitar because of Randy Rhodes, a former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist who tragically died in a plane crash. When I heard the Ozzy’s Tribute album, which was all live recordings of Randy Rhodes, all I wanted to do was learn to play guitar. I’ve always tried writing music, but never really knew how and couldn’t come up with anything good. However, when COVID hit and we were stuck at home, I figured out how to write and came up with six original songs, It just so happened that one of the hockey dads I knew played the drums and had set up a makeshift recording studio in his basement. He invited me to come over and record the songs and we spent a few months recording. When we were done, we started to talk about what we wanted to do next. My friend asked me if he could invite one of his long time friends, who he’s known since grade school and is a singer, over to jam with us. I said sure, he came over and we ended up writing and recording an album together. When we were done, we wanted to play live, but we weren’t sure how to do that as a 3-piece. I had played all of the guitars and the bass on the album, it just wouldn’t sound right with just three of us. We ended up finding another guitar player and a bass player, who both went to high school with the drummer and singer, and they were both perfect for the band. We started playing live in June and we’ve been playing around the Twin Cities ever since. We started writing new music together and plan to record an EP in February.

Where would you most like to travel to and why? 
I absolutely love the ocean, so anywhere there is a beach where I can just sit, watching and listening to the ocean, that’s where I want to be.