TED Community » Thomas Stat

About Me

Tom is a senior business and design strategy consultant, innovation thought leader, teacher, author, speaker and facilitator in the world of innovation, design thinking and human centered design. In all these roles and activities, Tom’s focus is on the organizational paradigms and cultural realities that empower innovation, the human resources, business and service models that enable innovation, the genesis and process of getting to next, and the important differences between competent management and remarkable leadership.

Tom was a senior leader at IDEO (one of the world’s most respected innovation consultancies) for 12 years, where he led and contributed to a wide variety of innovation consulting engagements, managed a number of IDEO’s key client relationships and directed business development efforts across all IDEO practice areas. At IDEO, Tom was involved in human centered innovation/design initiatives, organizational transformations and business model revolutions for clients including Motorola, Chrysler, 3M, Tetra Pak, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), Starbucks, Kraft, Nestle, NAVTEQ, Whirlpool, P&G, Eli Lilly, McDonalds, American Express, American Greetings, W.W. Grainger, Walgreens, AT&T, Sony, Bayer, and The American Red Cross, among many others.

As an independent innovation consultant, Tom works with a close network of seasoned strategists, designers, researchers, communication specialists, brand architects and other professionals who engage directly and actively with client senior leadership on highly strategic and actionable innovation initiatives. Collaborations have included Children’s Memorial Hospital, Jones Lang LaSalle, Baker Hostetler LLP, Kraft, PepsiCo, Quaker, The Lookingglass Theatre Company, The Business Genome Project and JDL/Here, among others.

Prior to IDEO, Tom was involved in the management, design and execution of a number of large-scale real estate development and building projects including work for the U.S. Department of Energy (Argonne National Laboratories), Saudia Airlines, Jeddah International Airport, Bridgestone, Ameritech, The Tribune Company, Andersen Consulting, Kraft, Discover Card and The Menninger Foundation, among others. Tom managed a joint venture, focused on facility management and development, between Kinden Corporation (a large infrastructure and building engineering firm) and Lohan Associates (a renowned architectural firm) residing in Osaka, Japan for two years and has traveled extensively throughout Asia and Europe.

Beyond consulting, Tom is actively focused on a range of activities at the intersection of his personal passions and opportunities for impact. These include educational program and curriculum development initiatives, organizational transformation and business system development. Tom is a lecturer at Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, The Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business, Carlson School of Management and at a variety of global industry and company-sponsored conferences.

Tom holds a number of key board positions including his role as chairperson of the prestigious Edison Awards and executive director of Edison Universe, a related 501(c)(3) dedicated to broadening, deepening and strengthening education systems. He is on the board of Children’s Memorial Hospital Foundation and is a business advisor to the president of the foundation and the CEO of the hospital. Tom is a founding board member and on faculty of Craven Hall, a new, online entrepreneurship and innovation “school” launching Spring of 2012.

Tom is a member and participant at TED (a premier, annual, invitation-only, thought leadership conference held in Long Beach, California) and spoke at TED2012 - a first ever "simultalk" with Andrea Kates on Shakespeare and Star Trek...and universal search for connection. According to TED leadership, this talk was the first ever to include the Klingon language. He plays a senior role in planning and guiding Chicago’s local TEDx, “TEDxMidwest” and serves on the advisory board of “Chicago Ideas Week.” In 2010, Tom co-founded and launched the “!mpact Conference,” an annual innovation conference for Chicago teens.

Tom has a multi-disciplined background that includes Aerospace Engineering at Purdue University, a Bachelor of Science in Social Psychology from Boston University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design, and Certificate in Marketing Management from Stanford University.

Tom resides in Northbrook, Illinois with his wife, daughters and dog.