Summary
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Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolRobert Cheetham is a geospatial entrepreneur and advisor with over two decades of leadership experience, best known as the founder and long-time CEO of Azavea, a Philadelphia-based B Corporation he led until 2023. He now runs Abaca Labs as Founder and Principal Consultant, publishes the Japan Earth Observer newsletter on Earth observation and geospatial industry trends in Japan, and advises climate and sustainability startups. His work sits at the intersection of open data, open-source geospatial tools, and civic-tech applications that address climate, biodiversity, and community resilience. Trained in landscape architecture and Japanese studies, he brings a rare combination of design-led planning, local cultural insight, and technical GIS expertise. He remains active on boards and as a strategist, translating spatial data into practical decision-making tools for governments and nonprofits. An unexpected throughline in his career is a sustained focus on building knowledge systems that make place-based problems more solvable by communities.
13 years of coding experience
25 years of employment as a software developer
BA Japanese Studies, BA Japanese Studies at University of Michigan
Certificate Japanese language politics religion law, Certificate Japanese language politics religion law at Kyoto Center for Japanese Studies
MLA Landscape Architecture Regional Planning, MLA Landscape Architecture Regional Planning at University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Japanese