I spent 33 wild years co-leading Cheskin, a consulting firm in the heart of Silicon Valley that helped pioneer the practice of design research and multicultural customer experiences for clients including 3M, Disney, Atari, P&G, HP, Lucasfilm, Microsoft, Kroger, Apple and PepsiCo. We sold the company to WPP in 2007 and I started another phase of my career, leading the Presidents’ Circle of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. I co-chaired the group for 10 years, primarily helping them thinking through their communication strategies.My brushes with fame include quotes in Ad Age, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Proceeding of the National Academies of Sciences and in various books, most notably Malcolm Gladwell’s “Blink.”  I was interviewed on Good Morning America, where I was scolded for being too enthusiastic.I’ve spoken on the topic of design at Stanford University, AIGA, the AMA, and IDSA. I’ve shared my perspective on communications at the White House, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Council, among others. I’ve tried in vain to explain what I do to my daughter’s grade school classmates.I’ve served on a variety of advisory boards that share the distinction of being highly innovative, including Ooga Labs, the Quantified Self Labs, Affinity Labs and Quantified Communications. In non-profits, I’ve been on the boards of TrustE, the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, and I chaired the AIGA Center for Brand Experience. While I’ve sat on a variety of corporate boards, my favorite is Mattson & Co. where I have been a board member for over 20 years. Since 2008, I’ve served as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar to the mediaX program at Stanford. Previously I served on the graduate Media Studies program advisory committees at the Art Center in Pasadena and the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.  Additionally, I was a founding advisor at the DMBA program at CCA and a mentor at the Oxford University Saïd Business School.I now live on the shores of Lake Tahoe in Nevada with my wife Christopher Ireland. My greatest joy continues being a husband, father and grandfather. I’m working on a project called Drop Dead Happy where I try to share what I’ve learned about living a worthwhile life.I’ve become an avid outdoors person. I ski, kayak, hike, paddle, surf and more. Recently I’ve taken up photography and songwriting, and over the next ten years I hope to get good at both.