About

(Update March 15, 2012: Thanks to Robert Terson for providing me with valuable feedback on this page!)

Hi, Welcome to my personal site where I discuss my view of the Internet and the digital (social) space as a fundamental transformational force at the intersection of today’s world of business, technology, marketing, society and people.

I actively utilize Twitter to listen, learn, connect, share and collaborate with the community. Follow me on Twitter and read more about my business here.

What I’m Currently Doing:

I am Founder & CEO of JazLabs, Inc, a digital innovation company focused on the social business web.

Our vision of social business goes beyond social approaches to marketing, advertising and customer service. We see it as more than an extension or adaptation of “business as usual”. It allows business to partner with customers in a powerful way.

The social business platforms we conceive, build and deliver into the market take the social principles that have evolved online and enable brands to go beyond marketing and advertising. Our platforms adapt, enhance and redefine the core business offerings of your brand and provide a secure, private network that brands can use to connect and collaborate with their customers, and ultimately allow customers to transact and co-create experiences of your brand in a highly socially relevant way.

Find out more about JazLabs, Inc and what we can do for you – JazLabs, Inc

Bio:

My Story:

I’ve been working at the forefront of the Internet for the past 18 years helping clients embrace the transformational power of the Internet to drive their businesses forward. Today I’m even more passionate about “Digital” than I was 18 years ago. In my personal opinion it’s one of the most significant agents of change we’ve ever experienced and it’s at the center of the most profound global convergence of brands, businesses, technology, markets, people and communities that we witness today and I strongly believe that it will continue to be a significant agent of change tomorrow and into the future. It now extends way beyond e-commerce or marketing or communications or social media or mobile. It has shaken up industries, fundamentally altered the World as we know it and brought us all much closer together.

I launched JazLife in September, 2010. JazLife is an online platform that enhances the lifestyle experience of condominium residents by providing them with intuitive, relevant, convenient and rich community, discovery, social and transactional tools, applications, connections and content that let them engage and connect with their surrounding ecosystem.

What’s driving me forward? What makes me tick? Let’s look back at my personal journey so far:

A degree in math and computer science and a love of analytics got me into derivatives trading where I discovered my addiction to constant change and innovation, my love of technology, my passion for understanding people and how their beliefs, values, perceptions, fears and greed drive markets. It’s where I nurtured a sense of urgency and an impatience to achieve results. In other words, It was an excellent training ground for working in the digital space.

In 1994, after I’d completed my MBA, I witnessed the Internet over a 300 baud dial-up connection; I was instantly smitten and thought, “this will change the world.” So I founded my own interactive agency, with BMW as my first client. In 1997 I sold my business and moved to North America, and to Modem Media where I established and grew their account services practice, then I migrated to Wunderman. As VP, Interactive, I built Wunderman Canada’s digital practice and subsequently sold the services across the Wunderman network in North America and Europe, working on brands like Ford, AT&T and Citibank. I then became SVP in New York, leading a global team responsible for IBM‘s interactive marketing across major markets in North America, Europe and Asia.

I missed working exclusively on digital, so I joined Blast Radius‘s Toronto office as Managing Director. While there I opened and grew their Chicago office, focusing on driving business in Eastern Canada and the Central US.
In 2005, I became the SVP, General Manager of Organic‘s Toronto office. Over the next 4 years, we grew fourfold in size and serviced three of Organic’s largest global clients: Chrysler, Nike and Bank of America. I also became the publisher of Organic’s industry-insider blog, http://threeminds.com and led the team that developed Organism, Organic’s internal social collaboration platform (featured in Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies).

I left Organic at the end of August, 2009 and founded JazLabs, Inc, a digital innovation company focused on the social business web.

I think of myself as a collaborator, cross-pollinator, experimenter, connector, doer, entrepreneur and builder. That’s what living digitally does to you, makes you think not just outside of the box but across boxes and borders, calling up the sum of your knowledge and experience.

If this has peaked your interest and you need some help exploring and developing an interesting idea that you and your team believe will transform your company and/or industry, please don’t hesitate to reach out and connect with me here.

Thanks,
David