Each quarter, we feature one of our all-star staff members in a Spotlight Series. Staff featured in this Series have been peer-nominated for their superb performance and values-driven work. This quarter, we spotlight Jessie Pechmann, HOT’s Conflict & Displacement Program lead.
What first attracted you to work at HOT?
I wanted to learn more about open source tools and how OpenStreetMap (OSM) worked. When I first heard about OSM in 2013 from an early OSM adopter who had moved to Utah (Martijn of MapRoulette fame, for those who know it), it sounded like a niche project, but OSM has since grown into a major GIS resource! I also used to work with Utah’s open geospatial database, which dated back to the 1980s, and later did GIS work for humanitarian projects. So, I was excited to combine both interests at HOT.
Tell us a bit about how your career/personal journey led you to HOT.
I’ve always enjoyed jumping into other people’s worlds to learn new things and help them think about their workflows and communications spatially. When I worked in local government, I got to collaborate across many different agencies, learning about everything from wildlife monitoring to rural telecom coverage. For my final project in graduate school, I helped geologists incorporate GIS and spatial modeling to track salt volume changes at the movie-famous Bonneville Salt Flats. When I learned about the humanitarian sector through a networking tip, I realized there was so much to learn across different disciplines—and a lot of potential for the cross-cutting nature of GIS. After working on an amazing international humanitarian team in Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, the pandemic shifted me to remote work—and here I still am!
Jessie holds a BA in Anthropology from Beloit College, and a Professional Master of Science and Technology with an emphasis in GIS from the University of Utah. She loves working with people to incorporate data and mapping into their work to improve workflows and data visualizations. Nothing can tell a story better than a map!
What are you most excited about for the future of HOT / OSM?
I’m interested to see how OSM’s resilience relates to the humanitarian “reset”. It’s an incredibly tough time in the sector with massive funding cuts, but I see OSM as one of the widely used platforms that will survive. There’s nothing else quite like it.
What is your current role at HOT, and how has it evolved?
I currently lead HOT’s Conflict & Displacement Program, focusing on OSM data and OSM communities in areas where there is a prolonged international humanitarian response. Over the last year, we’ve managed to get some response-based funding, establish strategic partnerships, support OSM communities, and help contribute to OSM in conflict-affected areas. I’m next hoping to move the program into some early recovery and peacebuilding contexts.
What is the most interesting project you’ve worked on here?
I think personally the most interesting project I’ve worked on at HOT was the work in Gaza in 2024. HOT had not worked in a conflict area for a long time, and navigating one of the most sensitive contexts in the world was a challenge. When the project was finally completed, it was nice to hear from a wide range of people who really appreciated the data—from humanitarians to international media outlets! But what really touched me was the volunteers’ reflections on the work they had accomplished in their free time over 5 months.
Jessie representing HOT at the Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week, 2024
What fulfills you most about your role?
I’ve always liked connecting people, and in my role now, I get to help connect humanitarians’ data needs to motivated local OSM communities and OSM contributors. It’s been really fulfilling watching everyone learn from each other in the process. Humanitarian contexts can be really discouraging to work in, but the OSM community builders I’ve met and the people who are passionate about informed responses at humanitarian organizations have really kept me going.
What’s the motto you live by?
We have an obligation to put back into the world what we take out of it.
What are you reading right now?
Objective Troy: A Terrorist, a President, and the Rise of the Drone by Scott Shane, to better understand modern warfare. To be honest, though, you’ll usually find me reading historical fiction for a proper escape.
Learn more about Jessie here.
Photos courtesy of Jessie Pechmann