David Moss: From the Basketball Court to the Boardroom

When David Moss was growing up, he wasn’t thinking about mapping systems or civic infrastructure—he was thinking about basketball. A self-described cerebral player, he studied opponents’ moves, tracked patterns, and strategized to win. It turns out, that mindset wasn’t just good for the court—it laid the foundation for a career that’s changed how communities use data to make smarter decisions.

Today, David is the Director of GIS Strategic Enterprise Planning at Sidwell, where he leads efforts to modernize government systems and champion the power of geospatial intelligence. But he didn’t set out to work in GIS.

“I actually fell into it,” he laughed. “I wanted to be a professional basketball player… education was just kind of secondary as a potential fallback.”

That fallback, however, soon became a calling. As a student in the Minority Engineering Program at UNLV, David took a job in the university’s transportation research center, not knowing it would introduce him to GIS—Geographic Information Systems. His initial spark came with a challenge. “My first manager didn’t think I was going to make it. He said I wasn’t really getting it,” David recalls. But David stuck with it. Within weeks, he proved them wrong and went on to become the longest-standing intern in the program.

Through nearly two decades in government, David noticed a consistent pattern: GIS was often underprioritized. Developers were tasked with managing customer expectations on top of technical work. “I realized I could either do both poorly or pick one and excel,” he said. David chose leadership.

“I thought, I can hire GIS professionals better than me—and I can be the leader I always wished I had.”

But leadership, he says, isn’t about control. It’s about growth. “You’re working for me because you want to be here. And if you don’t, I’ll write you a letter of recommendation myself.” That approach has helped him build resilient teams, cultivate new leaders, and ensure no one is left stuck in a role that doesn’t serve them.

Of course, none of this was easy. David had to learn how to navigate resistance—especially when introducing change. When proposing a shared funding model for GIS data, David’s boss told him, “We don’t generate revenue.” But instead of backing down, David took full ownership.

“I wrote the invoices, managed the relationships, collected the payments. That first year, we got $100k back.”

In the end, his efforts returned nearly half a million dollars and laid the foundation for collaborative public-sector innovation.

His work has also been shaped by humility. “Working with great professionals has shown me that leadership is about helping others shine,” he said. He encourages his teams to embrace discomfort, pursue training—even if they have to pay for it themselves—and never stop advocating for what they need to succeed.

“I never wanted just a job,” he said. “I wanted a career. One I could be proud of.”

And it’s that vision—fueled by purpose, not position—that has helped David turn GIS from an overlooked function into a cornerstone of community transformation.