JEFFREY KRAUSE
Founder, Principal of Technology & Future Strategies
Jeffrey has pioneered work on the internet since 1994 and is the founder of five companies, including Blacksquare, America’s Guide (sold 1996), Investment Instruments (rentometer, rentomatic sold 2011), IMO Entertainment, and Puni. Jeffrey has a unique ability to balance business needs, complex technology, and team culture. He’s the ideal sounding board for brainstorming, distilling concepts to their essence, or endless discussions about bleeding edge technologies. He is a member of the The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, a juror for the Australian International Design Awards, and a mentor for Betaspring’s startup accelerator. His latest fascinations include “emergent” social media apps and realtime augmented reality multiuser mobile apps.
Jeffrey has a BArch from the USC and a SMArchS in Design & Computation from MIT. He was also a Professor of Architecture at the University of Hawaii teaching design studios, and advanced computational design classes. You can visit Jeffrey’s research website at arch.blacksquare.com. Or follow his tweets at geofree.
JULIA OGRYDZIAK
Founder, Principal of Product Design & Brand Vision
Julia is a relentless driver of creativity for Blacksquare, its employees, and its clients, including Bank of America, News Corp., Fox Studios, The GAP, Microsoft, NOAA, Peoplesoft, PRTM, William’s Sonoma, and Pottery Barn Kids. She has an unparalleled ability to deliver brand experiences which amplify business goals, world class design, and flawless usability. As a multidisciplinarian* she draws on her design education, performance background, theoretical physics degree, serial entrepreneurship, and business analytics to exceed client and investor expectations at every level.
She holds a Masters of Design Degree with Distinction from the Harvard Design School, and Physics and Music degrees from MIT where she received the Alumnae Award for Top Female Graduate. While at MIT, she was also a researcher at the MIT Media Lab. She is a member of the The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences and a judge for the Web Awards. Julia is a concert violinist and soloist. You can learn more about Julia’s music at julia-o.com or twitter via ogrydziak.
*Julia was recently featured in a South Korean TV show about Global Multidisciplinarians.
Blacksquare Associates
Hoshino Atsishi, Business Development Asia
Jon Bloch, Geo-Location, Large Datasets
Matt Forsyth, Ruby on Rails
Ken Garee, Mobile, Android
Nick Kishfy, Ruby on Rails
Yu Kikuchihara, Business Development, Asia
Ben Pearson, UX, UI
Kiko Taganashi, Video, Mobile
David Curtiss, UI, Animation
Hayley Durack, Brand, Photography
Blacksquare Alumni
Johnnie Giles
Soon Yu
Phil Say
Judith Romero
Hayley Durack
Bridget Chang
Christine Mehr
Rudra Kothari
Patrick Chang
Ebbe Strathairn
Chris Fematt
Sumana Maitra
Perry Hung
Matt Smith
Matthew Krause
Mike Ogrydziak
Brad Borevitz
Kelly Shaw
Lance Carlson
Nick Topolos
Jonathan Remulla
Emanuel Beica
Robin Willis
Katie Orthwein
Jonathan Remulla
