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Ann Ciganer joined Trimble in 1989 and became director of Government Relations to develop a strategic policy direction for the company. Since 1995, Ciganer has served as vice president of Strategic Policy, taking a leadership position for the corporation in working with the U.S. Government, and other governments internationally to help shape a stable and predictable policy environment for the Global Positioning System (GPS).
Ciganer is a principal founder of the U.S. GPS Industry Council, an industry trade association, and currently serves as the group's Executive Director of Policy. Ciganer, together with the members of Council, has worked with the U.S. Government to develop a comprehensive export policy for GPS. She developed corporate and industry positions for the National Research Council, National Academy of Public Administration, and RAND Critical Technologies Institute (CTI) studies on the future and management of GPS. Ciganer provided corporate and industry positions for the Interagency Working Group (IWG) which developed policy inputs leading to the Presidential Decision Directive (PDD), a comprehensive national policy on GPS, announced by the Vice President in 1996. The PDD provided, for the first time, formal confirmation of the dual civil-military nature of GPS and recognized the U.S. commitment to provide continuous availability of GPS worldwide free of direct user fees. Ciganer, with members of the Council, took the lead in working with Congress to include the provisions of the PDD in statutes, such as the Defense Authorization Act of 1998.
In 1997, Ciganer rapidly organized an emergency response team at the 1997 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-97) in Geneva. The team worked with the U.S. Government and GPS user industries to prevent a harmful overlay of Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) communication signal on the GPS signal used by millions of commercial and allied military users worldwide. She organized the U.S. industry team that participated in International Telecommunications Union (ITU) studies of the feasibility of this proposal for a decision at WRC-2000 which resulted in Suppression of Resolution 220 proposing sharing. Ciganer also participated in the GPS Outreach Committee, a pubic-private partnership providing information worldwide on the utility of GPS.
Prior to Trimble, Ciganer served as a research analyst for SRI International's Systems Development Division and the Center for Urban and Regional Policy Analysis. At SRI, she conducted studies for the selection and use of appropriate technologies for integration in the infrastructure of developing countries, including developing public policy recommendations to help ensure legacy benefit. She had task leadership responsibility in international research projects in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific.
Ciganer was the first president of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Defense Space Consortium, and chair of the Bay Area Regional Technology Alliance. She was also a member of the advisory board for JV: SV Smart Valley's Bay Area Digital Geographic Information Resource.
Ciganer received her B.S. in Russian studies from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and spent a semester at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. She is fluent in French and conversant in Spanish and Russian. | 