Stephen Lawler

Stephen Lawler is currently the co-owner CTO at Vexcel Group, a leading US and International high resolution aerial imagery data service provider, after acquiring the business from Microsoft in 2016. Vexcel serves ultra-high resolution imagery, 3D data, APIs and experiences for the Geospatial Insurance Consortium and insurance companies worldwide. They also provide HD Maps, smart cities, wide area mapping and GIS solutions at market-leading 3D geometric precision, which powers AI GeoSpatial applications and workflows. Vexcel also produces industry leading UltraCam aerial sensors, terrestrial sensors and automated 3D imagery workflow through advanced machine learning and AI.

Stephen has 20+ years of experience in software engineering and technical leadership in the areas of mobile, mapping, geospatial, 3D, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, semantic search, and cloud services. He is the inventor/co-inventor of 49 patents granted or pending, involved with many tech acquisitions/integrations, strategic partnerships and global development teams, and presented Microsoft's Virtual Earth at TED in 2007.

Prior to his current role with Vexcel, Lawler held senior positions as the VP of Direct Traffic for Amazon.com and had a 15-year career with Microsoft, leaving the tech firm as the CTO of Bing Maps. He also previously served on the Board of Directors for Waze prior to the acquisition by Google in 2013.