The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s chief technology officer, Mark Munsell, will officially retire after 20 years of federal service Nov. 9.

As the CTO, Munsell facilitated innovative development to transform and modernize NGA’s technology to better serve mission partners, and oversaw and streamlined information technology capabilities and services. He also developed the agency’s first-ever published NGA Technology Strategy.

Munsell also served as the agency’s CIO and IT Services deputy director. Munsell joined NGA’s predecessor agency, the Defense Mapping Agency, in 1996, where he led the update of the agency’s aeronautical production systems. He went on to serve in many senior positions across a vast portfolio of NGA operations including a deployment to Iraq in 2008. Prior to taking a post at NGA, he worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He spent some time as a government contractor, and later founded the Internet Marine and Aviation Planning Services in 2000 to offer flight and maritime planning services to individuals, industry and government. He returned to government service at NGA in 2006. Throughout his NGA career, Munsell has been based at the agency’s St. Louis location and will continue to help build the geospatial technology ecosystem in St. Louis in the years to come.

The CTO role was created in 2018 to focus on increasing the agency’s ability to instill next-generation technology, tradecraft and innovative approaches to the geospatial intelligence community, enterprise and mission. NGA will announce the next CTO in the coming months.