Signal and Cipher

Signal and Cipher is the Future Decoded. We are an innovation and change management firm dedicated to helping the most impactful companies in the world navigate, operationalize, and monetize the impact of AI to drive the future of work.

From Hollywood studios to tech darlings and CPG, our clients are looking for ways to build the future today.

Keynote Speaker

I speak frequently on the future of work and the impact of rapid change on enterprises, employees, consumers, and the global economy.

Keynote Platforms: 
Billion Dollar Teams: The Future of an AI-Powered Workforce
Future Forward: Navigating Exponential Change
Creative Machines: AI and the Future of Creativity

Recent keynotes include Deloitte, Microsoft, Synchrony, Puig, SXSW, Adobe, Febraban, Icatu, Totvs, and Itau.

I have also given guest lectures on leadership and AI at several universities, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern, Loyola, DePaul, UIC, and IIT.

International Keynote Speaker

DeFiance Media

I write and produce the Future Report segment as a part of Defiance Daily on the Defiance Media Network, using Hour One's powerful synthetic media platform. Each news segment is delivered by an AI version of me - a Deepfake.
You can catch the segment at https://defiance.media or streaming on over 100MM devices and smart TVs worldwide.

AI Correspondent - Synthetic Host of "Future Report"

Coastal Spritz

Interim Fractional CMO

Update Beverage

Caffeine is obsolete. It’s time for an Update. Crush procrastination with a smart energy drink that's more advanced than caffeine. Now available at www.drinkupdate.com

* Rebuilt the brand from the ground up after two prior agencies failed to design a distinctive brand for this new beverage category
* Built a nimble team of freelancers to establish a visual identity, brand guidelines and design system, including an extensive library of 3D assets, and feature animations
* Defined core value propositions and key demographics for launch
* Lead launch strategy and execution 
* Worked with bleeding-edge tech platforms like Unreal Engine 5 and LightTwist to develop immersive brand experiences

Head Of Brand + Futurist in Residence

Cocktails For Hope

•  Successfully lobbied for the legalized sale of Cocktails-to-go in Illinois - providing bars and 
    restaurants a revenue lifeline during Covid
•  Built a team of 50+ volunteers, including some of the world's biggest names in hospitality
•  Co-wrote legislation that received overwhelming bi-partisan support 

Cocktails For Hope is an initiative that advocates for the temporary sale of pre-mixed cocktails in containers sealed by on-premise license holding establishments in the State of Illinois. Cocktails For Hope is committed to creating necessary cash flow to bars and restaurants throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow them to remain in business. The initiative also seeks to create an open line of communication with lawmakers for continued conversations as the hospitality landscape evolves over time.               Visit us at: www.cocktailsforhope.org

Co-Founder

SWAPP PROTOCOL (NFT Marketplace, Decentralized Exchange, Data Monetization)

Advising Swapp on 
- Implementation of structure and process needed to scale effectively
- Marketing and communications strategy

NFT Marketing and Operations Advisor

XR Founders

We are a collective of over 15,000+ interdisciplinary voices sharing ideas to shape the future of XR. Together we explore new capabilities, diversity, ethical design, accessibility, sustainability, and social impact within the industry. 

Join us on Clubhouse every Thursday and Sunday at  5PM ET.

Cohost

Hawkeye

Epsilon agency is now part of Hawkeye!

We’re a one-of-a-kind human experience agency.

We orchestrate experiences for people across their customer journey— leveraging human insight, the world’s best data, empathic creativity and the most powerful technology available. We do all this to deliver business results for our clients and to create more meaningful connections between humans and brands.

We call these Connections Designed to Matter™.

VP, Group Director: Digital Strategy + Innovation

Epsilon

Established the Creative Technology group to explore, prototype, and deploy new technologies in service of solving client business challenges.

Digital Strategy Practice Lead
Executive Development Program Graduate

Vice President, Digital Strategy

Decoding the future of work with the technologies of tomorrow | Futurist | Speaker

I help executives (including C-Suite and NEDs), and marketing teams understand the impact of AI on their organizations and augment the power of their teams with AI and reimagined workflows. 

For over a decade I've helped companies do mind-bending things with new and emerging technologies by showing them how to create, monetize and scale with bleeding-edge tech when few best practices and instruction manuals exist. At Signal and Cipher, we're focused on decoding the future of work for our clients.

My mission as a futurist and speaker is to inspire people to take ownership of their role in shaping the future, participate in building the world they want to see, be the wrong person asking the right questions, and approach the future with wonder, curiosity, and hope, not fear and confusion. The future is ours to shape, but you don't win by being as a spectator. 


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Considered one of the top voices in AI and the future of work, Ian is a trusted advisor to the world's most innovative companies. His firm Signal and Cipher transforms companies into AI-ready organizations with training, workforce reengineering, design, and development, resulting in meaningful routes to innovation that impact the bottom line, inspire cultural change, and create new products and ways of working.

Previously responsible for P&Ls and innovation departments at the largest agencies in the world, Ian is known for making bleeding-edge technology understandable and monetizable. Brands he has advised over the last decade include Samsung, Intel, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and dozens more.

Ian has pioneered a digitally immersive presentation style that brings artificial intelligence and extended reality to life so audiences can understand the future of technology in actionable ways. Ian is also the co-owner of a production studio designing virtual worlds and the first person ever to host a news segment as a synthetic human, streaming to over 100 million devices around the world.

A classically trained musician, Ian understands the magnitude of AI's coming impact on human creativity. As a strategist and speaker, he strives to educate stakeholders on the real-world implications of emerging technologies so they can make informed decisions that positively shape our world and advance humanity. In a rapidly evolving world that some consider dystopian, Ian remains a steadfast optimist and offers what everyone needs now: hope.

Specialties:  AI • Machine Vision • Emerging Technology • Digital Strategy • Process Engineering • Prototyping • Systems Thinking • Team Leadership

Ian Beacraft

Bloq

Led an “internal agency” (PRISMIC) that delivered strategic communications programs for Bloq’s masterbrand, spinoffs, and affiliated projects.

Built foundational strategies and processes for ideation, content development, issues response, and media management

Repositioned the company from a wide-ranging innovation studio to a managed infrastructure provider — in just over 30 days

Provided experienced counsel to Bloq’s executive team and those within the extended family of Bloq’s business network

Mentored team of early-career employees

Chief Communications & Marketing Officer

Chief Communications Officer

Edelman

Provided expert counsel in B2B Digital, online crisis, community engagement, and situations that exceeded conventional public relations practice (e.g., Wikipedia, hacktivism, Dark Web, Reddit, etc.)

Developed and led the firm's four-pillar strategy for creating, integrating, and evangelizing blockchain/cryptocurrency industry capabilities worldwide

Created the firm's global policy for evaluating Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) on the basis of opportunity, risk, and credibility

Led skunkworks project for integrating blockchain technology into the communications and journalism toolkit

Guided and developed intellectual property for the firm in the areas of crisis/risk, thought leadership, B2B, and blockchain

Published the PR industry’s first proof-of-concept for applying blockchain technology, using bitcoin as a notary service

Led global digital governance, compliance, and ethics

Senior Vice President, U.S. B2B Digital; Leader, Global Blockchain Center-of-Excellence

Delivered expert counsel to the senior marketing, corporate communications, and executive leadership of key clients regarding reputation management, online behavior governance, and community engagement

Led online crisis communications for a number of clients worldwide and across a broad variety of issues, developing an industry-neutral methodology for addressing online crises

Led initiatives for integrating digital skills into standard agency practice, including a well-regarded distance-learning system ("The Belt System"​) that provided 1) manager-level decision support for staffing, 2) global accountability for learning social media skills and 3) the firm's first rigorously data-focused employee development program

Adapted the above "Belt System"​ into an innovative client offering used by global companies in the technology, energy, food, and pharmaceutical industries, earning more than $1M of revenue from what would have otherwise been a sunk cost

Accelerated adoption of social media capabilities in the firm's LatAm and APAC markets

Represented the firm within the media and industry consortia, particularly regarding complex online community engagement topics (e.g., Wikipedia, hacktivism, etc.)

Developed the firm's (and PR industry's) early thought-leadership on blockchain- and bitcoin-related matters

Served as the digital representative within the firm's global ethics committee

Senior Vice President, Digital Integration, Chicago

First senior-level hire at the world's largest public relations firm to focus on the social web and online communities as a strategic communications discipline

Developed the cohort-based "T4" social media training program and methodology, resulting in greatly reduced mid-to-senior-level turnover, higher level of overall social media capability throughout the agency, and broader base of billable services. Training more than paid for itself in terms of additional billings based on new digital skills learned. One cohort project won an industry award.

Guided initial online community engagement for leading companies and brands

Crafted the firm's global online behavior policy and developed Edelman's consultative offering in this important area

Developed and hosted earSHOT, the official Edelman podcast, from 2006 - 2007

Vice President

Kent State University

Developed and produced a brand-new, master's-level online course ("Digital Communities in the Public Relations Context") focused on the core tenets of online community engagement and communications planning

Taught course and advised students, managing the course across two additional instructors

Seven-week program included the history of online communities, digital integration, strategic planning, crisis and risk, ethics, and emerging technology

Lecturer, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Masters Program in PR

Dryden Marketing Group / G2B Group

Developed, managed, and executed technology marketing and media relations programs for Matrix Semiconductor, Cornice, and CopperEye, contributing measurably to the business development for these startup clients

This work culminated in two companies earning the Technology Pioneers recognition at the World Economic Forum

Developed and executed publicity program for the San Francisco Bay Area return of Thoth, a renowned performance musician and subject of Academy-Award-Winning documentary

Media Programs Manager

Phase Two Strategies

Guided account service and media/analyst relations activities for SRI International, Matrix Semiconductor, Adaptec, PeopleSoft, and others

Account Manager

The Weber Group

Account service and media/analyst relations activities for SRI International, Hitachi Semiconductor, and J.D. Edwards among many others

AC / AAE / AE / SAE

CCO/CMO, Bloq, Inc. | Advisor

With enterprise experience and startup savvy in equal measure, Phil Gomes is a trusted marcomm advisor, strategist, advocate, and mentor. 

Phil leads communications and marketing at Bloq, one of the earliest companies to professionalize blockchain infrastructure and applications. This includes responsibility for the corporate brand and serving as a senior marketing and communications advisor to the company’s diverse spinoffs in decentralized finance, Bitcoin mining, infrastructure, gaming, and more. Among other accomplishments, he led the launch Vesper Finance, which grew into a $1.8 billion protocol at its height, and repositioned the parent company in under 30 days in response to the economic environment of 2020. 

Prior to joining Bloq, Phil was a senior vice president at Edelman, where he guided the world's largest communications firm's initial explorations across two generational technology shifts: social media and blockchain technology. In addition to leading the company’s global blockchain center-of-excellence, he advised executives on crisis communications, issues management, digital integration, and employee engagement across all of the firm’s industries and practices. 

In his near-decade in Silicon Valley, Phil worked with startups and world-class companies, most notably the renowned research firm SRI International. 

Known for industry “firsts,” Phil is widely considered to be the first PR professional to start a blog (2001) and the first to describe and demonstrate the value of blockchain technology in communications (2015). He is a board member at-large for the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers (ACJR).

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