“If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration.” - Nikola Tesla
I'm a designer, (experience + visual + technology + ui + story + brand)
A creative director, video editor, vFx artist, innovation extractor, author and more.
My 25+ year career has been a tapestry of innovation, creativity, luck and collaboration with some of the brightest minds in the industry. As a artist, designer, engineer, strategist, facilitator, author, entrepreneur, and technologist. My professional journey has been marked by significant contributions and influential friendships.
I've studied physics at MIT, UX Design, Video and Visual Effects, Design Thinking at Stanford and recently Artificial Intelligence at the MIT Sloan School.
Industrial Light & Magic | Macromedia
I worked up at "the ranch" in Lucas Valley CA. I started as a rotoscope artist working on the feature film Willow. I met and worked with George Lucas, the ILM Art Department and Lucas Film Games. This early experience laid the foundation for my future endeavors in the world of video, design and technology. My next role was for a company called MacroMind, later they went public and became Macromedia, this is where I built the creative services department, a multi-million dollar studio, co-created the "Shockwave" technology and authored the first books on the subject. Additionally, I developed the CommArts award-winning Macromedia.com website, worked with PIXAR on 3D tool called MacRenderMan for the movie Toy Story, worked with Sid Mead on his Blade Runner book, and was responsible for "shocking" very high profile websites such as CNN, Visa, Yahoo, Sony, Netscape and more. I reported to Phil Schiller on Macromedia MarCom, later Adobe acquired Macromedia for 3.5 billion.
CKS Group, marchFIRST, Apple, PIXAR, The Communication Group
I was recruited by the former Chief Creative Officer of Apple (Tom Suiter). While at CKS Partners, later renamed MarchFIRST I conceived landmark, Communication Arts and Webby award-winning websites, CDs, Campaigns, Environments, and TV commercials for high-profile clients such as Apple, Levis, Nike, Pixar, Visa, 3Com and more. As Regional Director of Research & Development, I managed a team of over 100 people, overseeing all Apple and Pixar collateral. I became personal friends with Steve Jobs, and was a primary creative for the Apple Store, Trade Shows and the Think Different campaign. Black Tie optional, that was me. I edited many of the think different TV commercials and have some that were never released. Apple lawyers made me remove them from the Web.
The Communication Group
My entrepreneurial side led me to start authoring more books and I raised a few million from a famous Palo Alto VC and founded "The Communication Group" (TCG), an interactive agency that handled work for clients such as Maxtor, Verisign, Naturopathica, and Genentech. Years of fun. I handled the creative service production for all clients for the development of CES environmental marcom, new product packaging, video productions, interactive flash training and more.
IDEO & SAP Labs
I joined IDEO SF, and founded the Service Design & Innovation Group as the Practice Leader. I played a pivotal role in establishing and growing the financial portfolio of clients and shaping the company's offerings using design thinking principles. I developed many campaigns for banks and related, Wells Fargo Website, WAMU Future of the Check, JPMorgan customer journeys, BofA "Keep the Change," that was me. In addition to software clients I worked on many electrical engineering and industrial design projects for NDA clients. By me a drink and I'll spill the tea.
My journey continued when I joined SAP, where I helped create the "DST" Design Services Team closely with the founder Hasso Plattner and the CTO Vishal Sikka. This co-Germany, Palo Alto group was created to construct a design thinking team aimed at transforming SAP’s entire culture, this took 9 years and involved 90,000 people. I grew the team, taught design thinking workshops worldwide, and was awarded 9 patents for my products. Some projects included Sapphire, AppHaus, HanaHaus, Commumication Design Group, As We May Work, SAP HANA, SAP Fiori, and many others.
Microsoft
At Microsoft, I was recruited to served as a Principal User Experience Designer in the New Biz Accelerator team, creating a new visual 3D modeling and analytics-driven application codenamed Tangram. My work on this earned me 9 patents. Additionally I created global "gross domestic happiness" project that allowed the aggregate level of happiness of every human on earth mapped onto a global map for the Bing team.
Infosys
Later, following Vishal Sikka and other friend I joined the offie of the CEO at Infosys, where I became the Global Head of Experience Design. Projects included helping setup and run a company-wide design-thinking training program for 140K+ employees. This project established Infosys as a Design Thinking leader.
Other projects included the "SDC" Strategic Design Consulting group, we offered design, product and engineering services to G2000 clients, the CDT Corporate Design Team which built showcased the potential for digital tech to augment businesses such as Education, Agriculture, Retail, Banking and more. The Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Lab, Project NIA, UI/UX & MarCom for the AI platform, OpenAI and HARC projects which Infosys helped with the funding the work of OpenAI and included Alan Kay, Bret Victor and Vi Hart, and many others.
In addition I was the acting producer and editor of the Infosys no-profit Foundation working on development of the Why I Make (#WhyIMake) campaign. An ongoing series of TV PSA spots that included people such as by Nick Offerman, Adam Savage, Nolan Bushnell, Don Pettit, Emily Pilloton and more. Additional initiatives such as Computer Science Education and Teacher Training, Hackathons, the InfyMaker program, the Crossroads Conference, etc.
Vianai Systems Inc. & Now
Currently, I am the Executive Creative Director, for content development for Vianai Systems, a Palo Alto-based startup providing an enterprise AI platform and AI solutions to global organizations.
Throughout my career, I have been guided by the principles that people buy holes, not drills, and that most people don't want your product—they want what it does. This philosophy has driven my approach to problem-solving, focusing on eliminating "noise" from products, services, and processes.
My contributions to the industry extend beyond my professional roles. I have authored "The LastMile," a New York Times bestseller on broadband technology, and hold 7 patents for Microsoft and 7 patents for SAP Labs. My expertise lies in designing connections between people, products, environments, and experiences, and I have a passion for creating intelligible and engaging products and services.
I reside in Woodinville, Washington, with my wife, two daughters, and son. For a more in-depth understanding, please visit the random facts about my life page.