Meet the Instructors

Leah Saunders

Senior GIS Data Analyst, City of Seattle

Leah Saunders has been in the GIS field for more than 20 years. During that time, she’s worked on solutions and projects in various industries, including public safety, planning, land management and transportation. She’s also been able to work in many different technology areas of GIS, such as analysis, software development, cartography, enterprise management, scripting, automation and database design. An instructor for the UW Certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), she was honored with a Teaching Excellence Award in 2023.

Saunders currently works as a GIS data analyst in City of Seattle Information Technology after spending more than six years at the Seattle Police Department as the lead GIS analyst. Before this role, she spent 15 years as an instructor, training coordinator and solution engineer at Esri.