Roger Payne is Executive Secretary
of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. He is also Chief of the Geographic
Names Office at the United States Geological Survey, and is manager of the National
Geographic Names Database, the nation's official automated geographic names repository.
He has a Masters Degree in Geography and a Bachelors Degree in Geography and History
with additional post-graduate training in linguistics and cartography as well
as database design and database management systems. He has served as adjunct
faculty at East Carolina University, George Mason University, and George Washington
University, and is presently one of the principle instructors and director of
the Pan American Institute of Geography and History's toponymic program.
His areas of specialization include toponomy, locational analysis, and regional
concepts. Mr. Payne has presented numerous papers on toponymic themes, regional
concepts, and especially the treatment of geographic names in an automated
environment. He is editor of The National Gazetteer of the United States
(conventional and digital), and has authored four user's manuals for the use
and compilation of geographic names. He has also authored two books, including
Place Names of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and is also author of
the United States chapter of Names Studies, published by Walter de Gruyter
& Co. He is also an international consultant in toponomy and geography
and a book reviewer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
He is active in several professional organizations and has held various offices
in these organizations, including President of the American Name Society
(1989), and is currently the Vice Chairman of the Place Names Survey of the United
States. Mr. Payne also serves as permanent delegate to the United Nations'
Group of Experts on Geographical Names, and as the United States Interior Department's
Representative to the American National Standards Institute's Committee on Data
Representation. He is also the recipient of the U.S. Geological Survey's
Superior Service Award, a member of the Cosmos Club, and is a Fellow of the Explorers
Club.
Email: rpayne@USGS.GOV