Jason is a research affiliate with the Institute for the Future (IFTF), a non-profit futures research group in Palo Alto, California, and is recently on sabbatical after ten years as a research director with the Institute.
At IFTF Jason had the opportunity to become one of the world’s leading forecasters of emerging technologies—the future forms and potential applications of media and communications tools that will connect people, amplify messages, influence attitudes and behaviors, and immerse us in other realities in transformative new ways. Envisioning the impacts of this research led Jason to work extensively in areas of work and human resources, marketing and strategy, health, education, urban planning, leadership, identity, and activism.
In addition to leading original research at IFTF, Jason worked deeply with Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, and civil sector organizations to understand the future and apply foresight to a broad range of urgent issues. Over the decade Jason led major foresight projects with Intel, Disney/ABC, Electronic Arts, Deloitte, Procter and Gamble, Toyota, the U.S. Navy, NATO, United Cerebral Palsy, AARP, the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes, the Arcus Foundation, and the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Supporting the Institute’s mission of public interest in the future, Jason pioneered new ways to engage larger groups in thinking about their individual and collective futures, including immersive experiences, interactive scenarios and simulations, personal toolkits, and online platforms for idea generation and dialogue.
Jason’s work at IFTF and in academia, as well as his thoughts on the future, have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Wired, and on MSNBC and CNN.
Jason received a master’s degree in human-computer interaction design from the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy, where his project on future scenarios for political voting provoked responses around the world, and a bachelor of science in human-computer interaction from Stanford University, where he helped to found the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, the first academic research lab to study the potential of technology to change attitudes and behaviors.
Jason and his partner Sasha live in San Francisco where they are involved in Bay Area-based and nationally-focused LGBTQ, anti-extremist, and social justice organizations.