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About geniant

Today, we know experiences happen across physical spaces, between people, and through technology. geniant is leading the movement to evolve the experience design profession–integrating expertise from architecture, interior design, user experience, service design, team & change management, and software development. geniant is helping global leaders shape the future of their customer and employee experiences.

Innovation in research

The fields of architecture and interior design often rely on patterns. Here at geniant we're leading in combining the areas of physical space, people, and technology to drive outcomes that have never truly been realized. By utilizing established research methods, geniant can uncover insights and opportunities to protect your real estate investments. You can know what will drive retention for your teams and conversion for your shoppers. What technology is necessary, and how to connect all your channels into seamless experiences.

our history

With a combined 100s of thousands of hours of experience, our leaders, experts, and team members have a passion for shaping experiences that matter. Our leadership team alone has built and grown several exciting businesses that have become industry leaders and caught the attention of billion-dollar companies. In fact, geniant was one of those businesses; being successful as a technology leader for years was then acquired by a $30BN market cap public company and integrated into their practice.

Today, geniant is once again independent and taking that same ingenuity and now leading a new market, one that is looking to shape the future of experiences across physical space, people, and technology.

  David Lancashire Chairman & co-CEO About David   Keith Jacobs co-CEO About Keith   Stephen Andrews CFO About Stephen   David Dewane Chief Experience Officer, Physical Space About David   Josiah Platt Principal About Josiah   Grant Baldwin VP, Business Insights About Grant   Peter Randolph, AIA Director About Peter   Karen King SVP, Employee Experience About Karen   Nicole Tabata, AIA Director About Nicole   Jeremy Johnson SVP Experience Transformation About Jeremy   Andrew Balster President, Physical Space About Andrew   Christina Brown, NCIDQ, LEED AP Principal About Christina   Kevin Kamien, AIA Managing Director About Kevin   Mel Chotiner, NCIDQ Director About Mel   Anna Shaw Director About Anna   Paul Tidwell President, Digital About Paul   Kristin Pautlitz Director About Kristin   Greg Morantz Director About Greg   Jacob Morse Managing Director About Jacob   Bruce Randall Managing Director About Bruce   Sanjay Shamdasani Managing Director About Sanjay
board
  David Lancashire Chairman & co-CEO About David   Keith Jacobs co-CEO About Keith   Stephen Andrews CFO About Stephen   Bill Shenkman Board Member About Bill   Arshaad Mirza Board Member About Arshaad   Gene Petrie Board Member About Gene
Differentiators in a Crowded Marketplace

If you want a holistic solution to ensure your experiences match your brand promise across physical spaces, between people, and through technology–geniant is the single partnership you need. Teaming with geniant means you no longer need groups of vendors–we break this paradigm, blending experts with different perspectives to design and create the right experiences.

When designing and developing experiences, we firmly believe that the key to driving the right outcomes are insights derived directly from customers and employees. This could be us sitting next to your teams, observing and interviewing, or creating meaning from large data sets. A mix of quantitative and qualitative data tells us the right story, which gets teams aligned and moving forward with the right solution.

We have a plan, a methodology to bring this all together. One rooted in years of experience, experimentation, and client success. We're excited to be the leader in shaping experiences and can't wait to see what we can do together!

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past experiences:
  • ObjectSpace
  • Geniant
  • Dell/EMC
  • projekt202
  • Bold Ventures
  • Amstrad PLC.
LinkedIn

David Lancashire

Chairman & co-CEO

LinkedIn

David is a seasoned business leader and entrepreneur. Originally from England and now living in Dallas, TX., David has built two leading experience-driven technology consulting companies over the last two decades. At the point that they were sold to publicly traded companies (EMC and Amdocs respectively), they had a combined market capitalization of more than $250MM. David has had a significant impact on bringing experience research into the mainstream of the technology industry and continues to bring together experts to take the experience transformation business to the next level.

past experiences:

  • ObjectSpace
  • Geniant
  • Dell/EMC
  • projekt202
  • Bold Ventures
  • Amstrad PLC.
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • EY
  • Sapient
  • Bright Corner
  • Dell/EMC
  • projekt202
  • RefillWise
LinkedIn

Keith Jacobs

co-CEO

LinkedIn

Keith is a business leader with experience founding and growing successful experience-design consulting companies. Keith started his career at Ernst & Young and Sapient and then left to found his first consulting firm, which he merged with a competitor and helped sell the combined business in 2007. He then co-founded and led a second consulting firm which grew even faster than the first. Both companies had a focus on software user experience and delivered projects to the largest companies in America. Keith also founded a healthcare company that used technology to help over 3 million families in the US afford their prescription medicine. A guest lecturer at his alma mater UT-Austin McCombs School of Business and at SMU Cox School of Business, Keith is passionate about sharing his knowledge and giving back to his communities. He's also a member of the Lone Star Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization and has mentored at Health Wildcatters, an innovation hub based in Dallas.

past experiences:

  • EY
  • Sapient
  • Bright Corner
  • Dell/EMC
  • projekt202
  • RefillWise
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • KPMG
  • ObjectSpace
  • Dell/EMC
  • projekt202
  • Bold Ventures
LinkedIn

Stephen Andrews

CFO

LinkedIn

Stephen is a senior financial executive with broad experience in accounting, auditing, financial management, and direct experience with real estate and venture capital. He's been CFO and COO and has been directly involved with a number of mergers and acquisitions. Since his early career at KPMG, Stephen has co-founded several successful businesses, with multiple companies being successfully acquired by billion-dollar organizations. He's also found time to start an MMA mobile app startup to help with Mixed Martial Art instructional videos.

past experiences:

  • KPMG
  • ObjectSpace
  • Dell/EMC
  • projekt202
  • Bold Ventures
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • Gensler
  • Archeworks
  • Barker Nestor
  • Illinois Institute of Technology
LinkedIn

David Dewane

Chief Experience Officer, Physical Space

LinkedIn

David has a background in ecologically and socially equitable design and trained at the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems in Austin, Texas. This foundation in applied research has allowed him to contribute to projects on the cutting edge of environmental sustainability and public interest design. With a wide-ranging career with years in teaching and architecture, he has held the title of architect, publisher, journalist, and educator. In addition, he's found time as an entrepreneur, co-founding the popular Mouse Book Club, a modern take on classic literature.

past experiences:

  • Gensler
  • Archeworks
  • Barker Nestor
  • Illinois Institute of Technology
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • Norton Rose Fulbright
  • Eastlake Studio
  • ActiveCampaign
  • Old Post Office Suites
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Levy Family Partners
LinkedIn

Christina Brown, NCIDQ, LEED AP

Principal

LinkedIn

Christina is passionate about mentoring new designers and guiding teams in creating inspiring workplaces. She has led many award-winning projects across Chicago and spearheads research into new architecture and interior design trends within the company, often speaking on topics including wellness-forward workplace design. She holds a degree from Virginia Tech and is a certified Fitwel Ambassador. Christina is also a Co-Founder of Sounding Boards, a non-profit public art organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of artists through public art, which was awarded the AIA Chicago Foundation Roberta Feldman Social Justice Award in 2022

past experiences:

  • Norton Rose Fulbright
  • Eastlake Studio
  • ActiveCampaign
  • Old Post Office Suites
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Levy Family Partners
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • Eastlake Studio
  • ServiceNOW
  • EV Manufacturer (NDA)
  • Illinois Institute of Technology
  • Pandora Radio
  • Equator Design
  • Art Institute of Chicago
LinkedIn

Kevin Kamien, AIA

Managing Director

LinkedIn

Kevin is a craftsperson at heart. His strong work ethic and attention to detail help drive success with his teams, ensuring the geniant vision is vocalized to staff and implemented daily. With more than 17 years of experience, he's stacked up numerous awards from AIA–and he's continuing to push the boundaries of design while seeking ways to solve complex problems for clients through elegant solutions. Giving back, he's supporting several people on their path to licensure as a Supervisor and Mentor in the Architect Experience Program

past experiences:

  • Eastlake Studio
  • ServiceNOW
  • EV Manufacturer (NDA)
  • Illinois Institute of Technology
  • Pandora Radio
  • Equator Design
  • Art Institute of Chicago
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • 17seconds
  • One Finance
  • Knit Health
  • Smart Design
  • Fitbit
LinkedIn

Anna Shaw

Director

LinkedIn

Anna is passionate about strategic brand and digital product experiences that matter in people’s lives. She has led ground-up design efforts at early-stage consumer finance and health-tracking start-ups. Previously, she served as Director of Brand and Interaction Design at Smart Design, where she coached multi-disciplinary teams on digital evolution and innovation programs for Fortune 100 companies. You’ll find her baking and trying to get back into metalsmithing in her spare time.

past experiences:

  • 17seconds
  • One Finance
  • Knit Health
  • Smart Design
  • Fitbit
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • 17seconds
  • BBVA
  • Spring Studio
LinkedIn

Bruce Randall

Managing Director

LinkedIn

Bruce has been working in the digital design and innovation space since 1995. Working across dozens of Fortune 500 companies, he founded and ran three agencies and building several world-class design teams in the process. Bruce co-founded Spring Studio in 2001, growing it to become a leading San Francisco-based design agency. In 2015 Spring Studio was acquired by the multi-national bank BBVA to seed their global design organization and bring agility to the bank's digital transformation. At BBVA, Bruce helped lead design and innovation programs that served the bank globally. In 2018, Bruce left BBVA to co-found 17seconds, working with many of the world's largest financial services companies, helping develop effective innovation programs and creating best-in-class products and services. Bruce can often be found training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when not working.

past experiences:

  • 17seconds
  • BBVA
  • Spring Studio
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • Capital One
  • Sapient
  • Alliance Data Corporation
  • projekt202
LinkedIn

Karen King

SVP, Employee Experience

LinkedIn

Karen is a seasoned HR leader with 25+ years of experience in people strategy and business partnerships. She's passionate about developing leaders and creating inspiring work environments. Her expertise includes coaching, development programs, process improvement, M&A due diligence/integration, and talent projects across various industries. Karen's leadership has helped establish HR processes for esteemed enterprises and startups.

past experiences:

  • Capital One
  • Sapient
  • Alliance Data Corporation
  • projekt202
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Eastlake Studio
  • Vitality Group
  • iManage
  • ActiveCampaign
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Old Post Office Suites
  • Council on Global Affairs
LinkedIn

Nicole Tabata, AIA

Director

LinkedIn

Nicole started her career graduating Summa Cum Laude and receiving the Alpha Rho Chi Medal for leadership and service at Ball State. From there, she earned her master's degree from Clemson University. Today, she's leading technology initiatives, shepherding the studio's transition to a BIM drawing program, and taking an active role in training. As a project architect, she has contributed to several award-winning projects. More recently, Nicole has led sessions on Eastlake's wellness research for Architectural Record and BIM project workflows for Vectorworks.

past experiences:

  • Eastlake Studio
  • Vitality Group
  • iManage
  • ActiveCampaign
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Old Post Office Suites
  • Council on Global Affairs
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • Bottle Rocket
  • Improving
  • GameStop
  • Brainspace
  • Cyxtera
  • Vega Studio
LinkedIn

Jacob Morse

Managing Director

LinkedIn

Jacob is a business and design leader focused on experience-driven performance. He's been strategically improving experiences for customers and employees for over 15 years. In addition to product strategy, he's been hands-on with leading marketing, product design, and UX consulting teams. Helping grow innovative businesses is a passion for Jacob — whether Fortune 500 or startup — he's there to support their transformation and business success. Having successfully founded, grown and exited startups, he understands the challenges of making and keeping businesses successful.

past experiences:

  • Bottle Rocket
  • Improving
  • GameStop
  • Brainspace
  • Cyxtera
  • Vega Studio
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • 17seconds
  • BBVA
  • Spring Studio
  • News Corp
LinkedIn

Sanjay Shamdasani

Managing Director

LinkedIn

A pioneer in the digital design industry, Sanjay designed some of the earliest websites in the UK, including The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers, the country's first ezine and first multiplayer online game. Since 1997, he has founded and run three agencies in San Francisco, including Spring Studio, acquired in 2015 by the multinational bank BBVA, where he led award-winning teams and initiatives to drive the organization's digital transformation. Most recently, he co-founded 17seconds, working with the world's largest financial services firms to develop internal innovation programs and create best-in-class product and service experiences. Sanjay is a frequent speaker on financial innovation, design thinking, and emerging technologies. He has been a speaker and panelist at various events, including Finovate, American Banker Retail Banking, The AI Summit, MFEA star awards, FCS events, BBVA Open Innovation Summit, and BBVA Open Talent. He has also delivered a TEDx talk on the impact of design within financial services. In his spare time, Sanjay enjoys painting and crafting his skills as a DJ.

past experiences:

  • 17seconds
  • BBVA
  • Spring Studio
  • News Corp
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Eastlake Studio
  • Perkins+Will
  • Encyclopedia Britannica
  • Athletico
LinkedIn

Mel Chotiner, NCIDQ

Director

LinkedIn

Mel is an interior designer with more than 22 years of experience delivering creative solutions, nurturing client relationships, and leading collaborative teams through the design process. Her expertise spans corporate offices, branding, and repositioning projects. With her strong technical skills and knowledge, as well as project management experience, her teams enjoy her leadership as an energetic and highly efficient collaborator.

past experiences:

  • Eastlake Studio
  • Perkins+Will
  • Encyclopedia Britannica
  • Athletico
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • Archeworks
  • Virginia Tech
  • CannonDesign
  • TU Delft
  • SOM
LinkedIn

Andrew Balster

President, Physical Space

LinkedIn

Andrew's leadership operates in the areas of architecture, urbanism, public policy, sociology, and academia. Working closely with influential leaders, ranging from architects and planners to government officials and strategists, he creates collaborative platforms that advance the application of design and design thinking. Formally trained as an architect, Andrew has a critical and creative approach to problem-finding and problem-solving. He has a long track record as a strategic connector and a leader of complex projects — breaking down industry and disciplinary silos — forming multidisciplinary collaborations and projects that utilize design for systems-level change in our cities and world.

past experiences:

  • Archeworks
  • Virginia Tech
  • CannonDesign
  • TU Delft
  • SOM
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Southwest Airlines
  • Samsung
  • Brainspace Corporation
  • Cyxtera Technologies
  • Hyper Giant
  • Bloomreach
  • Vega Studio
LinkedIn

Josiah Platt

Principal

LinkedIn

Josiah is a product executive focusing on design and technology to help Fortune 500 and growing tech startups innovate and launch successful digital products. His years of experience have ranged from UX Design to developing prototypes and augmented reality solutions. With the ability to define a strategy and then design and develop a solution, Josiah is a rare combination ready for any challenge. He also runs the best poker tournament platform this side of Jupiter.

past experiences:

  • Southwest Airlines
  • Samsung
  • Brainspace Corporation
  • Cyxtera Technologies
  • Hyper Giant
  • Bloomreach
  • Vega Studio
LinkedIn
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past experiences:
  • AT&T
  • Southwest Airlines
  • T-Mobile
  • Capital One
  • AmerisourceBergen
  • Fiserv
LinkedIn

Grant Baldwin

VP, Business Insights

LinkedIn

Grant is a strategic business leader with a deep passion for revolutionizing companies and reshaping entire industries by focusing on the perfect coupling of people, technology, and environments, ultimately making the world a better place. He has a wide range of business experience working in consulting for over a decade, including strategy, business unit operations, software development, sales & marketing, and mergers & acquisitions. With his unique skills, Grant helps business leaders achieve their goals and unleash the power of experience transformation daily.

past experiences:

  • AT&T
  • Southwest Airlines
  • T-Mobile
  • Capital One
  • AmerisourceBergen
  • Fiserv
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • 17seconds
  • BBVA
  • Spring Studio
  • Charles Schwab
  • Euro RSCG
LinkedIn

Greg Morantz

Director

LinkedIn

Greg brings 20 years of expertise in design strategy, execution, and leadership. He has led complete platform redesigns for large-scale Fortune 100 companies, conducted innovation programs for large banks, and helped ideate and create numerous start-ups. He previously ran San Francisco’s Emerging Tech Meetup, bringing together the leaders in the innovation space in the Bay Area. When not designing, he occasionally DJs and is a good resource for all your television and film recommendations and trivia.

past experiences:

  • 17seconds
  • BBVA
  • Spring Studio
  • Charles Schwab
  • Euro RSCG
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Eastlake Studio
  • 4240 Architecture
  • iManage
  • Tock
  • MoDE Architects
  • Prudential Plaza Amenities
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Code42
LinkedIn

Peter Randolph, AIA

Director

LinkedIn

Peter has a history of using his multifaceted talent and insightful design expertise on a wide variety of projects. He has completed projects ranging from luxury penthouse condominiums to media and technology company headquarters. Peter is a graduate of Syracuse University, and while studying, he received the AIA Henry Adams Certificate of Merit and earned the opportunity to work with the school’s Dean of Architecture on exhibitions. Peter led submissions for the 2017 and 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennials, receiving the Roberta Feldman Social Justice Award from AIA Chicago’s Foundation for the later project, Sounding Boards Garden at Harmony.

past experiences:

  • Eastlake Studio
  • 4240 Architecture
  • iManage
  • Tock
  • MoDE Architects
  • Prudential Plaza Amenities
  • Chicago Tribune
  • Code42
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Eastlake Studio
  • Henricksen
  • Norton Rose Fulbright
LinkedIn

Kristin Pautlitz

Director

LinkedIn

Kristin focuses on helping clients succeed, working with them to build trust, provide accountability, and manage project workflows. She has more than a decade of industry experience in interior design and furniture project management and is driven by her passion for wellness solutions in the workplace. She is a member of Professional Women in Construction, a national non-profit seeking to support, advance, and connect women and promote diversity within AEC and related industries.

past experiences:

  • Eastlake Studio
  • Henricksen
  • Norton Rose Fulbright
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Sabre
  • GameStop
  • Travelocity
  • projekt202
  • FedEx
  • 7-11
  • Southwest Airlines
LinkedIn

Jeremy Johnson

SVP Experience Transformation

LinkedIn

Jeremy has been working in digital experiences for over 20 years. While he started his career in UX Design, he quickly progressed to managing teams and leading product strategies for large organizations. With a mix of experience working in-house and consulting, he's developed a knack for rapidly seeing the bigger picture and distilling complex strategies into manageable phases of work. With a strong passion for getting teams to focus on employees and customers, Jeremy is a tireless advocate for exceptional experiences.

past experiences:

  • Sabre
  • GameStop
  • Travelocity
  • projekt202
  • FedEx
  • 7-11
  • Southwest Airlines
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • The Shenkman Group
  • The William Shenkman Foundation
LinkedIn

Bill Shenkman

Board Member

LinkedIn

An Ottawa native, Bill Shenkman serves as the chairman of The Shenkman Group of Companies, investing in a wide variety of ventures, including commercial and residential real estate, manufacturing businesses, and technology-based partnerships. Outside the business realm, Bill is active in philanthropic endeavors and acts as Chairman of The William Shenkman Foundation. For over 100 years, three generations of the Shenkman family have successfully owned and operated businesses in Canada and worldwide.

past experiences:

  • The Shenkman Group
  • The William Shenkman Foundation
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Delivery Solutions
  • LASH Delivery
  • Dell EMC
  • Sapient
LinkedIn

Arshaad Mirza

Board Member

LinkedIn

Arshaad Mirza is the Co-Founder of Delivery Solutions (acquired by UPS). He reimagined the ecommerce space - disrupting shipping with experience-driven same day, curbside, buy online pickup anywhere third-party orchestration to best serve both retailers and consumers. As an End-to-End service, Delivery Solutions streamlines the fulfillment process all while providing the invaluable opportunity for retailers to extend their brand to provide delightful experiences to their consumers. He believes that every interaction a consumer has with a retailer should be held sacred, wrapped within the retailer’s brand and everything it stands for. He spends his time making that a possibility for incredible retailers who hope to enhance their online shopping and shipping experience for their customers. Prior to his current role, Arshaad was the Co-Founder at LASH delivery (acquired by HEB), Co-Founder of Bright Corner (acquired by Geniant and Dell EMC). He also ran the global Service Management program for Dell EMC, where he focused on customer experiences and transformational execution strategy to meet the $1B projected business revenue in 2015.

past experiences:

  • Delivery Solutions
  • LASH Delivery
  • Dell EMC
  • Sapient
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • Software Architects
LinkedIn

Gene Petrie

Board Member

LinkedIn

Gene Petrie is the former CEO of Software Architects, a technology consulting firm driving $100 million in revenue, specializing in developing software applications for Fortune 1000 companies. Gene was a co-founder of the company and served as CEO during the entrepreneurial as well as growth phases of the company. He led an effort to sell the company to a large global technology company. Subsequently, Gene has been an active investor in advanced technology companies in the fields of artificial intelligence, experience and design, space, biotechnology, disinformation detection, and cyber security.

past experiences:

  • Software Architects
LinkedIn
+
past experiences:
  • projekt202
  • Sogeti
  • TicketCity.com
  • Charles Schwab
  • Mercedes Benz
LinkedIn

Paul Tidwell

President, Digital

LinkedIn

Paul is an experienced digital leader with extensive leadership experience across industries. He is passionate about leveraging technology and digital services to enhance employee and customer experiences. With proven success in driving growth and innovation through cutting-edge technology solutions, Paul is committed to ensuring that geniant delivers quality, experience-led digital solutions that transform businesses. As the responsible person for geniant's digital offerings, he is dedicated to collaborating with clients to create unforgettable digital experiences that drive business value.

past experiences:

  • projekt202
  • Sogeti
  • TicketCity.com
  • Charles Schwab
  • Mercedes Benz
LinkedIn

Ready to
shape your next
experience?

You need holistic solutions for today's complex challenges.
geniant’s proven process and methodology — along with our expertise — works together to solve your space, people, and technology challenges.

Contact us to get started.