Sticking computers onto problems
that have yet to be solved.

Highlights

A truly brilliant, versatile and compelling speaker, Michael Hawley has a gift for bringing his far-ranging material into practical focus for individual audiences. A true renaissance thinker, Hawley is one of those rare innovators who can express his passion and insight in science, technology, art, and design with fluency and flair.

A pioneer of digital life at Lucasfilm and Bell Labs, he speaks with unparalleled authority on digital technology media and its social and business applications and implications.

A long-time faculty member at MIT’s MediaLab, he spun up over 150 entrepreneurial research consortia to develop a very broad array of new game-changing technologies. He is totally at home in the corporate board room and the r&d lab.

Calling himself a ‘hi-tech Victor Borge,’ Michael is also a Van Cliburn competition-winning concert pianist with a truly unique program that combines gorgeous pianism with discussion on creativity and innovation in organizations. He is the rare amateur that plays as well as a professional and plays with professionals several times a year.

Hawley made his Boston recital debut in 2002, and his Symphony Hall debut in 2003 with the Boston Pops orchestra—both to powerful standing ovations. He’s played with Yoyo Ma and many of the world’s premier orchestras and musicians.

He is the youngest person to be elected to Kodak’s Board of Directors.

Michael is a very dynamic and compelling speaker; he’s quick and articulate, witty and deeply insightful. His music program is truly unique.

Friendly Planet

Founded in 2001, Friendly Planet is a nonprofit company dedicated to children’s education in developing countries. In collaboration with Jeff Bezos and other business leaders, Michael produced Bhutan, a gorgeous photo book named the World’s Largest Published Book by Guinness World Records. The book is the beginning of a series, along with Growing Up In Cambodia, on what it’s like to grow up in some of the world’s most extraordinary cultures.

Accomplishments

Worked on the original team that wrote UNIX at Bell Labs.

Helped develop digital and computer film technology at LucasFilms.

Early faculty member at MIT MediaLab.

Worked intimately for two years with Steve Jobs to develop NeXT

Pioneer of ‘expeditionary technology’—taking the newest technologies into the field to do leading-edge science and education. E.g., he developed the first ever wireless plant sensor network, one of the first self-organizing mesh networks

The first to produce fine-art quality photographic prints on a very large scale, using digital photographic technology; his photo book of the nation of Bhutan was named the World’s Largest Published Book by Guinness World Records.

One-time Duncan Yo-Yo champion.

Credentials:

• Founder, Friendly Planet
• Former Director, Special Projects, MIT
• Founder, MIT’s "Go Expeditions" program
• Founder and director: Toys of Tomorrow, MIT; Counter Intelligence, MIT
• Co-founder and director, Things That Think, MIT Media Lab
• First-prize winner, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs
• Former Dreyfoos Professor, Media Technology, MIT
• Board of Directors: Kodak, Color Kinetics, Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, and The Vanguard Group
• Fellow and trustee, Jonathan Edwards College at Yale
• Ph.D., MIT, and two undergraduate degrees from Yale
• One-time Duncan Yo-Yo champion
• Former luge racer
• Member, United States Bobsled Federation
• Recipient, first Jack Kilby Award for innovation in science, 1990

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