George Dailey is a demographer and rural sociologist by training and a geospatial cheerleader, matchmaker, and evangelist by trade. Geography, maps, and spatial analysis have been foundations of his life since childhood.

Since late 1993, Dailey has been a member of Esri's education program team. Esri is the world leader in GIS and mapping technology and solutions. The company’s commitment to the use of GIS in education is long-standing with its education team and program formally launched in 1992. Dailey and his colleagues work to bring GIS and geographical thinking into K–16 education and areas of public access and informal education to bolster such things as critical thinking, spatial literacy, workforce development, and the planning, operation, and sustainment of educational institutions.

Prior to coming to Esri, Dailey was in the public sector. At the U.S. Census Bureau in Washington, D.C. (1985–1993), he created and coordinated the agency's K–12 education program, worked on the 1990 census, and helped data users around the country learn about and employ a broad range of census and other federal information. Before his tenure at the Bureau, he was city demographer for the City of Oklahoma City (1979–1984), working on numerous governmental, business, and citizen data needs.

He holds an M.S. in rural sociology from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and a B.A. in environmental studies and sociology from the University of Illinois, Springfield. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife Kate (school president and early GIS education adopter) and their cat colony (two indoors and a clowder of ferals outside). He is an avid antique map and rock collector and best enjoys hiking in remarkable landscapes.