Colleague Spotlight: Marion Spencer

The GIS field was not Marion Spencer’s original career, but one brought to her by chance. When she joined the US Navy hoping to be an Intelligence Analyst, she was given the opportunity to work in the GIS field and ultimately fell in love with it. Once leaving the military and moving back home, the love for GIS stuck and her background led her to a role as a Product Manager at an asset management company in Spokane, WA.

This new role and a career in GIS asset management is what eventually brought Spencer to Cyclomedia. “While I was there, all my customers had the same problem...they didn’t know what assets they actually had. I really became very interested in the collection and inventory of assets at that point.”

Change of scenery

Marion already worked in GIS asset management–so what brought her to Cyclomedia? “As most people can attest, at certain times in our lives, change is needed to grow. About a year ago, I felt the need to help my customers from a different perspective after reading through some documentation on Cyclomedia. Helping my customers leverage technology to gain a complete inventory of their assets is very important to me, and building out new solutions to solve safety and maintenance problems is just icing on the cake.”

Her love for and experience in GIS makes her an expert in the field and an excellent addition to Cyclomedia’s product team. And not only that, but her customer-focused work ethic is exactly why she has found success in the field. If she could give a piece of advice to someone looking to be in her position, Marion would say to find the root of what a customer’s needs are, rather than taking their request at face value. “Many times, just asking them what the problem they are trying to solve is can lead to a much more cohesive solution than their original request. Getting to know my customers and innovating new ideas is probably my favorite part.”

Lover of GIS...and of animals!

Product Manager isn’t her only title–Marion is a Certified Animal Lover as well! In her free time, she loves to garden, take care of animals, and be outside when Washington weather permits. “When I was in high school, I rodeoed and raised pigs for Future Farmers of America. One time at the Spokane Interstate Fair, I was getting ready to wash my pig and he ran away from me and got his head stuck in a fence, it took three people and a gallon of Dawn to get him out!”

Thanks for being a great team member, Marion!