Christopher K. Tucker
Encyclopedia
Christopher K. Tucker is businessman and social entrepreneur active in the geospatial
industry and the US national security community, and as Principal of Yale House Ventures, manages a portfolio of technology startups and social ventures.
He was the founding chief strategic officer of In-Q-Tel
, the CIA’s venture capital fund, charged with developing In-Q-Tel's overall strategy for tackling the priority information technologies problems of the agency. Tucker worked with the original CIA team, which later became known as the In-Q-Tel Interface Center, to define and set up the original organization (first known as In-Q-It).
Before joining In-Q-Tel, Tucker served as special adviser to the executive vice provost of Columbia University
. While at Columbia, Tucker co-founded the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (now at Arizona State University
) and the Columbia Public Policy Consortium, and co-taught courses at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs
.
Tucker stepped down as senior vice president for the Americas and national programs at ERDAS in November 2008; about the same time his name was being floated in back channel conversations for a position at CIA. He joined ERDAS by way of its acquisition of IONIC Enterprise, where Tucker had served as president and CEO since leaving In-Q-Tel.
and the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
. Tucker serves, or has served on Federal Advisory Committees such as the Defense Science Board's Intelligence Task Force and the United States Department of Interior's National Geospatial Advisory Committee.Tucker has served on the United States National Research Council
Committee on NGA’s GEOINT Research Priorities. Tucker serves on various other corporate and non-profit boards in his Yale House Ventures capacity.
Tucker is the founder of the MapStory Foundation which seeks to develop an online social media channel/platform that enables a global community of experts to “crowd source” socio-cultural data within a geospatial and temporal framework, and to publish "MapStories" as spatio-temporally enabled narratives.
Tucker is also the President and member of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Arc which advocates for the implementation of the Palestinian Arc as conceived by the RAND Corporation and Suisman Urban Design, as a path toward the resolution of the Middle East conflict. The Arc has been covered extensively in the press as a viable path toward peace.
, Ira Katznelson
and Michael M. Crow.
, at the time known as both the citrus capital and water skiing
capital of the world as well as the winter training camp for the Boston Red Sox
. His wife is Ann Tucker, president and CEO of Tucker Global, LLC. His father is Dr. David P.H. Tucker, a retired professor at the University of Florida
’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
, Citrus Research and Education Center. His mother is Shirley J. Tucker, a retired public school teacher in Florida’s Polk County public school system. His brother Jonathan Tucker is a senior research analyst at the National Academy of Public Administration
.
Geospatial
Geospatial analysis is an approach to applying statistical analysis and other informational techniques to geographically based data. Such analysis employs spatial software and analytical methods with terrestrial or geographic datasets, including geographic information systems and...
industry and the US national security community, and as Principal of Yale House Ventures, manages a portfolio of technology startups and social ventures.
He was the founding chief strategic officer of In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel
In-Q-Tel of Arlington, Virginia, United States is a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in high-tech companies for the sole purpose of keeping the Central Intelligence Agency equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability...
, the CIA’s venture capital fund, charged with developing In-Q-Tel's overall strategy for tackling the priority information technologies problems of the agency. Tucker worked with the original CIA team, which later became known as the In-Q-Tel Interface Center, to define and set up the original organization (first known as In-Q-It).
Before joining In-Q-Tel, Tucker served as special adviser to the executive vice provost of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. While at Columbia, Tucker co-founded the Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes (now at Arizona State University
Arizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
) and the Columbia Public Policy Consortium, and co-taught courses at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs
School of International and Public Affairs
The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University is one of the most prestigious graduate schools of public policy in the world. Located on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus in the Borough of Manhattan, in New York City, the School has 15,000 graduates in more than 150...
.
Tucker stepped down as senior vice president for the Americas and national programs at ERDAS in November 2008; about the same time his name was being floated in back channel conversations for a position at CIA. He joined ERDAS by way of its acquisition of IONIC Enterprise, where Tucker had served as president and CEO since leaving In-Q-Tel.
Board Activities
Tucker serves on the board of directors of the Open Geospatial ConsortiumOpen Geospatial Consortium
The Open Geospatial Consortium , an international voluntary consensus standards organization, originated in 1994. In the OGC, more than 400 commercial, governmental, nonprofit and research organizations worldwide collaborate in a consensus process encouraging development and implementation of open...
and the US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation
The United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation is a non-profit organization in Virginia dedicated to supporting the geospatial intelligence tradecraft. The organization's mission is to provide a forum to exchange ideas, share best practices, and promote the education and importance of a...
. Tucker serves, or has served on Federal Advisory Committees such as the Defense Science Board's Intelligence Task Force and the United States Department of Interior's National Geospatial Advisory Committee.Tucker has served on the United States National Research Council
United States National Research Council
The National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
Committee on NGA’s GEOINT Research Priorities. Tucker serves on various other corporate and non-profit boards in his Yale House Ventures capacity.
Social Ventures
Tucker plays a prominent role in two social ventures.Tucker is the founder of the MapStory Foundation which seeks to develop an online social media channel/platform that enables a global community of experts to “crowd source” socio-cultural data within a geospatial and temporal framework, and to publish "MapStories" as spatio-temporally enabled narratives.
Tucker is also the President and member of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Arc which advocates for the implementation of the Palestinian Arc as conceived by the RAND Corporation and Suisman Urban Design, as a path toward the resolution of the Middle East conflict. The Arc has been covered extensively in the press as a viable path toward peace.
Education
Tucker earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. at Columbia University in the City of New York. Tucker’s dissertation is titled "The Role of Government in Supporting Technological Advance". Tucker’s graduate advisers included Richard R. Nelson (economist)Richard R. Nelson (economist)
Richard R. Nelson is an American professor of economics at Columbia University. He is one of the leading figures in the revival of evolutionary economics thanks to his seminal book An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change written jointly with Sidney G. Winter...
, Ira Katznelson
Ira Katznelson
Ira Katznelson is a leading American political scientist and historian, noted for his influential research on the liberal state, inequality, social knowledge, and institutions, primarily focused on the United States....
and Michael M. Crow.
In the news
Tucker has been the subject of several articles as far back as 2001. In 2001, Tucker was on the cover of Computerworld Magazine, and interviewed in an article entitled “Cloak and Dagger IT”, regarding some of the discoveries and developments brought forth through funding at In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital fund. Tucker has been interviewed several times in various geospatial industry media. In 2008, Tucker was interviewed for the geospatial-intelligence themed blog got geoint?.Writing
Tucker writes at the intersection of technology, strategy, geography, and national security. Tucker has been published in Foreign Policy, the Huffington Post, Federal Computer Weekly, Small Wars Journal, Space News, Directions Magazine, Science Progress, Geospatial Intelligence Forum, the Air Force Space Command’s High Frontier Journal the influential foreign affairs blog The Washington Note.Biography
Tucker was born and raised in Winter Haven, FloridaWinter Haven, Florida
Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,487 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 32,577, making it the second most populated city in Polk County...
, at the time known as both the citrus capital and water skiing
Water skiing
thumb|right|A slalom skier making a turn on a slalom waterski.Waterskiing is a sport where an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation on a body of water, skimming the surface.-History:...
capital of the world as well as the winter training camp for the Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...
. His wife is Ann Tucker, president and CEO of Tucker Global, LLC. His father is Dr. David P.H. Tucker, a retired professor at the University of Florida
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
, Citrus Research and Education Center. His mother is Shirley J. Tucker, a retired public school teacher in Florida’s Polk County public school system. His brother Jonathan Tucker is a senior research analyst at the National Academy of Public Administration
National Academy of Public Administration (United States)
The National Academy of Public Administration was founded by James E. Webb, then-administrator of NASA, and other leading public administration practitioners in 1967 and chartered under Title 36 of the United States Code in 1984 under Public Law 98-257. The Academy is a nonprofit, nonpartisan...
.