Vanessa Vivienne Lawrence (born 14 July 1962) is a British businessperson, geographer and speaker working internationally. For 14 years, until April 2014, she was Director-General and Chief Executive of

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

, Great Britain's national mapping agency. She was the first woman to hold the post and at the time of her departure had held the Director General role longer than any predecessor in more than a century. In January 2008 Lawrence was invested as a Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (CB) in the New Year Honours List. She has been elected an Honorary

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors and of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She is also a Fellow of the

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the va ...

, a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Scottish Geographical Society The Royal Scottish Geographical Society (RSGS) is an educational charity based in Perth, Scotland founded in 1884. The purpose of the society is to advance the subject of geography worldwide, inspire people to learn more about the world around ...

and a Chartered Geographer. During her career with government she served as the co-founder and inaugural chair of

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the c ...

which represented the CEOs of Government Agencies, Trading Funds and Non-Departmental Bodies, was the Chair of the Geographic Information Panel that produced the Location Strategy of the United Kingdom known as Place Matters: the Location Strategy for the United Kingdom and was a Non-Executive Director of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the

Open Geospatial Consortium The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), an international voluntary consensus standards organization for geospatial content and location-based services, sensor web and Internet of Things, GIS data processing and data sharing. It originated in 199 ...

Prior to working in government, she was employed by

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartere ...

and by Pearson plc in the Longman Group. She has been awarded the

, Scottish Geographical Medal for conspicuous merit and world-wide repute, the

Institute of Directors The Institute of Directors (IoD) is a British professional organisation for company directors, senior business leaders and entrepreneurs. It is the UK's longest running organisation for professional leaders, having been founded in 1903 and incor ...

South-East Director of the Year Award in 2008 and was made the Geospatial Person of the Decade 2000-2010 In 2008 she joined the Council of the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

for four and a half years having served on the Council of the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

from 2001 to 2008. In 2011 the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

elected Lawrence to serve as the inaugural co-chair of its Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (

UN-GGIM The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) is an initiative of the United Nations to foster the global development geospatial information. Geospatial Societies The ''UN-GGIM Geospatial Societies'' ...

). She served in this role continuously for four years working with others to develop UN-GGIM to be the lead global authority for governments and the private sector in geographic Information. On leaving UN-GGIM after four years, she was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the Under-Secretary-General, Dr Wu Hongbo The text of the Certificate read as follows: ''"The deep appreciation, respect and gratitude of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) is presented to Dr. Vanessa V. Lawrence CB. On behalf of all UN Member States, the Committee of Experts appreciates the considerable leadership and dedication of time and effort you have given to promote, shape and guide UN-GGIM since its establishment by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) in 2011. As the inaugural Co-Chair of the Committee of Experts from 2011–2015, your global knowledge and expertise has ensured that significant progress has been made towards achieving the Committee's mandated objectives. Through your leadership the international community has made important progress towards recognising the essential role of geospatial information in global development. With grateful thanks."'' In 2015 Vanessa Lawrence was appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Satellite Applications Catapult Ltd, a global advisor for geospatial information to the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Gr ...

, a Director of Location International, a Location Global Ltd Company and a Member of the Advisory Groups of the Urban Big Data Centre, Seraphim Space LLP, the Space Venture Capital Fund backed by the British Business Bank and Spatial Finance Initiative. In 2020 she was appointed as a Non-Executive Director and Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science and AI and a Board Member of the Walker Institute for interdisciplinary Climate Science, University of Reading She remains the Honorary Colonel, 135 Geographic Squadron Royal Engineers, and an Honorary Group Captain in 601 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force, an adjunct professor at the University of Southampton, a Trustee of the Royal Geographical Society and a Patron of the Cure Parkinson's Trust and MapAction.

References

External links

List of Directors-General of the Ordnance Survey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Vanessa Alumni of the University of Sheffield Companions of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Living people 1962 births Geographic data and information professionals British geographers Women geographers 20th-century geographers 21st-century geographers Fellows of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society People from Amersham