Justin is an innovation consultant and fractional leader with extensive experience helping companies create new value out of emerging technologies. Currently, he is the owner of Midwest Quality Consulting as well as serves on the advisory board for 1848 Ventures (Westfield Insurance) and on the board of directors of the Northern Illinois Food Bank.

Previously, Justin was a Senior Vice President at Newlab, where he sat on the executive leadership team and led consulting and business development. Before Newlab, Justin was a Partner and Executive Director at IDEO. He led business development for IDEO’s North American consulting business and was a founding member of Helix, the firm’s internal DE&I leadership team.

He has worked across a wide range of industries, helping clients navigate complex challenges through venture design, strategy, and the integration of data science and design. His client portfolio includes companies like 1848 Ventures, Ergotron, Shure, McDonald’s, Ford, and Jellyvision

At IDEO, Justin co-led the firm’s effort to explore what data science would mean for design thinking, a project that culminated in IDEO’s acquisition of the Chicago-based data science firm Datascope Analytics in 2017. Post-acquisition, he co-led the integration of Datascope into the Chicago studio and the expansion of data science as a capability across the firm. IDEO’s data science discipline exceeded its revenue target by 30% in its first year and maintained 100% employee retention for 3+ years.

Before coming to IDEO, Justin was the founder and CEO of Food Genius, a foodservice data and analytics startup that was acquired by USFoods in 2016, where it continues to operate it as an independent business unit. Customers included USFoods, McDonald’s, Safeway, Coca-Cola, and Kraft.  Food Genius was named to Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Brilliant Companies” list and received both a Chicago Innovation “Up and Comer” Award and a Core77 Design Award.

Justin has been featured on/in NPR’s Morning Edition, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Inc., Restaurant Business, QSR Magazine, and Nation’s Restaurant News and has been a featured speaker / presenter at the National Restaurant Association Show, the Restaurant Leadership Conference, FARE (Foodservice at Retail) Conference, the Food Leaders Summit, NRA’s Innovation Summit, SXSWi, the Produce Marketing Association, and CUSP.

Food Genius was part of the Summer 2011 class of Excelerate Labs, was the first-ever “Startup in Residence” at IDEO‘s Chicago studio, and was the first company to “graduate” from 1871. Justin has been named to the Crain’s Chicago Business Tech50 list (2012) and Chicago’s Food & Drink 50 (New City, 2013). Food Genius was the winner of Ad Age’s “Brand Hacks” on behalf of the Food Network.

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Earlier in his career, Justin was a director at a civic tech non-profit, an open data advocate, a meetup organizer, a fair and affordable housing advocate, a kindergarten teacher, an undercover civil rights researcher, a radio DJ, a waiter, a VHS rental clerk, an intercept surveyor, and a summer camp counselor (in reverse sequential order). It’s been a strange journey. Justin holds a BA in Political Science, with minors in Women’s Studies and Communication, from Loyola University of Chicago and an MA in Teaching from National Louis University.

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