Dave Knipfer – Owner/President
Dave is a life-long resident of the Madison area, and received a degree in geography with an emphasis in cartography from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. While attending college he gained experience in the mapping industry with Southwest Wisconsin Regional Planning. He started with MSL in 1986 as a cartographer, and subsequently was promoted to Project Manager, Project Estimator, VP of Marketing and Operations, and President in 2006. Dave and his wife Brenda purchased Mapping Specialists in January of 2009. Dave enjoys hunting, fishing, and gardening.
Oona Markielewski – Accounting Manager
Oona is originally from Washington, D.C. and grew up in Winona, Minnesota. She has a degree in accounting and finance and a B.A. in business administration from Lakeland College. She started as MSL’s part-time Office Manager in 1995 and was promoted to Accounting Manager in 1997. Oona wears many hats at MSL, handling accounting, payroll, cash management, finances, and data entry; she also has a hand in purchasing, shipping, and is (usually) the voice at the other end of the phone. On the side Oona enjoys working out, fishing, boating, and vacationing in northern Wisconsin.
Joe Benash – Project Manager, Printing & Lamination
Joe is originally from Evansville, just south of Madison. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he earned a major in geography with a GIS emphasis and a geology minor. After an internship with the Winnebago County (WI) GIS Department, Joe joined MSL in 1997 as a cartographer. As a project manager, Joe is responsible for customer support, custom mapping, product fulfillment, printing, laminating, and shipping. Joe is involved in sports, including flag football, volleyball, basketball, and fast-pitch softball; his softball team, with a record of 97-3, won two national titles in 2006.
Mike Woodard – Project Manager
Mike finished his B.S. in geography from Illinois State University and came to Mapping Specialists first as an intern, and then as a full-time cartographer; he was promoted to project manager in 2018. Mike specializes in street and regional-level mapping, data acquisition and manipulation, GIS, custom mapping, and customer service. He has earned the Mapping Specialists Leadership Award and Onno Brouwer Excellence in Cartography Award. Mike is interested in music, movies, sports and trivia; his office is decorated with Chicago Cubs memorabilia.
Glen Pawelski – Project Manager
Jeff King – Project Manager
Jeff has lived in the Madison area for most of his life. He has degrees in History, Geography, and Broadfield Social Studies Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He joined the Mapping Specialists team in 1995. As a project manager, Jeff is responsible for all aspects of cartographic production and delivering clients’ projects on time and on budget. He specializes in city street and atlas mapping, finished printed products, and custom projects. He enjoys kickboxing and science fiction books and movies, and has written several historical books that are for sale on Amazon.
Terry Bush – Senior Cartographer/Editor
After an earlier career in writing and public relations, Terry joined the Mapping Specialists team in 1998. After a few years in production he was promoted to editor to ensure that the company’s products meet the highest standards of cartographic quality. Terry is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Beloit College. He also holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago, and a master’s degree in forestry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He spent a year studying sustainable forestry as a Fulbright Scholar at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
William Kyngesburye – Senior Cartographer
William finished his B.S. in cartography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1991 and worked for a few years for the State of Alaska before coming to Mapping Specialists in 1996. His cartographic knowledge makes him well-suited for data management, base creation, and generation of shaded relief. Besides being talented in the creation of quality cartography, William is Mapping Specialists’ IT Administrator, responsible for our hardware and software systems, network maintenance, scripting, and website development. He is well-versed in various Open Source systems.
Rob McCaleb – Senior Cartographer
Rob has a B.S. in geology from Michigan State University and came to us in 2015 after spending 13 years at XNR Productions/Terra Carta. Rob is an excellent problem solver and highly skilled at map production. One of Rob’s areas of specialty is generating relief imagery and tilted perspective maps. Most often they can be found working on large-format projects such as wall maps and folded sheet maps. Rob enjoys general reference maps with tons of detail. They like to explore, and figures that more detail means that more exploration can be done. Outside work, Rob plays on a kickball team, likes to ski, and ranks the back bowls at Vail as his favorite place to be.
Randi Selvey – Cartographer
Randi has a B.S. in Environmental Sciences and M.S. in Cartography and GIS both from UW-Madison. She was introduced to the field of GIS while working at the UW Grassland Ecology lab and has since felt passionate about the intersections of cartography, data visualization, and environmental advocacy. While earning her M.S. Randi worked on the NBC News Data/Graphics Team where she wrote data driven stories and created interactive maps, charts and graphics for web. Randi’s experience makes her an excellent storyteller, using maps and graphics to communicate complicated data in a clear manor.In her free time, Randi enjoys making music with friends and spending time in nature.
Annika Anderson – Cartographer
Annika is a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she earned Bachelors of Arts in Human Geography and Cartography & GIS, and a Certificate in Public Policy. She has worked previously at the UW Cartography Lab. During her time there, she worked on a variety of projects from historical print maps to interactive web maps. Annika’s area of expertise is within digital and interactive cartography but she also throughly enjoys working on variety of print map projects! She also prioritizes making connections and friendships in the cartographic community through attending and presenting at conferences including NACIS and WLIA. In her free time she enjoys working on print and interactive maps for friends and family as a creative outlet and a way to develop new skills and workflows. Outside of cartography, Annika loves all things outdoors including cross country and alpine skiing, running, hiking, and camping.
