About

our mission and management team

Who We Are

Impact Observatory is a mission-driven technology company bringing artificial intelligence (AI) powered algorithms and on-demand data to sustainability and environmental risk analysis for governments, non-profit organizations, companies, and markets. Founded in 2020 and based in Washington, DC, and Santa Fe, NM, Impact Observatory’s goal is to empower global decision-makers to be planetary superheroes, with the timely, actionable science-based insights they need to succeed.

Impact Observatory was founded while Steve Brumby and Sam Hyde were staff members at the National Geographic Society. During that time, the Society helped develop the open source technology that Impact Observatory continues to develop and use today.

Meet Our Management Team

Steven Brumby, PhD

Co-founder, CEO/CTO

Dr. Steven P. Brumby is the CEO/CTO and Co-Founder of Impact Observatory. Steve directed geographic visualization at National Geographic Society, is a Senior Fellow with World Resources Institute, and serves on the DOI/NGAC Landsat Advisory Group. Steve was the CTO/Co-Founder of Descartes Labs, a venture-backed tech start-up focussed on forecasting agriculture and resources, and a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory where he was a co-inventor of the GENIE image analysis genetic algorithm. He received his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Melbourne (Australia), and has over 100 science papers and journal articles.

Sam Hyde

Co-founder, Operations

Samantha Hyde is Co-Founder and Head of Operations at Impact Observatory. Samantha joins Impact Observatory following her time as a Senior Program Manager for Geographic Visualization at National Geographic Society where she co-developed and ran a $6M annual R&D program for conservation technology. Previously she was the Lead Director at Madison River Group, a climate-centric consulting firm providing science based decision support solutions and she served as the Executive Secretariat at the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) where she provided strategic guidance to the White House Subcommittee on Global Change Research (SGCR).

Caitlin Kontgis

Science

Dr. Caitlin Kontgis is the Head of Science at Impact Observatory. Prior to joining IO, she worked at Descartes Labs on the Applied Science team before becoming the Director of Scientific Programs. Caitlin received her PhD in Geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she used satellite imagery to better understand land use, land cover, and climate change in southern Vietnam. As the Head of Science at IO, she leads a team that uses remote sensing and machine learning on a global scale to understand our changing planet.

Mark Mathis

Engineering

Mark Mathis is the Head of Engineering at Impact Observatory. Mark was an inaugural recipient of the Department of Energy High Performance Computer Science Fellowship and went on to a long year career at Los Alamos National Laboratory, primarily in the Decision Applications Division, before becoming a Co-Founder and Principal Engineer at Descartes Labs. Mark continues to get great science into the hands of decision makers at Impact Observatory.

Dan Klaussen

Product

Dan Klaussen is the Head of Product. Prior to joining Impact Observatory Dan was VP of Digital Innovation at Marriott International for over 4 years where he led numerous projects in the Customer Experience and IT Strategy departments. As a consultant, he’s led projects in digital transformation for National Geographic Society (identity management, platform infrastructure and geovisualization), PBS (digital video strategy and mobile applications) and Geico (ipad application.) Daniel has over 20 years as a Group Product Manager leading product teams.