Michael Maness, a leading thinker on innovation, media and the transformational impact of the Internet, is judging the entries submitted for the first Mega-Innovation Award to be presented in February at the Key Executives Mega-Conference.
The deadline for submitting entries for this year's award has passed. Honors will be presented Wednesday, Feb. 24. Watch www.mega-conference.com for the announcement that morning.
"I'm so excited to have Michael as our judge for this inaugural award," said Carol Hudler, conference program coordinator for the Mega-Conference. "He understands our business and its challenges. He's probably studied how to reinvent it more than almost anyone I know."
Hudler said: "Michael has a saying, 'People who aren't helping define their future will be doomed to fight it.'"
Hudler is CEO of Hudler Success Strategies, Nashville, Tenn. She previously served as group president for the Gannett U.S. Community Publishing Division for seven years, where she oversaw 13 local media operations in the Southeastern United States.
This year, Maness became the first ever Innovator-in-Residence at the Harvard Business School. The position was created as part of the Digital Initiative at HBS, an effort that brings together leading scholars and practitioners to explore the re-invention of business in a digital, networked and media-rich environment.
His exploration and research investigates why innovation fails or thrives in business cultures.
In addition to his work at Harvard, Maness also is a consultant for many start-ups and large media organizations, including the Walt Disney Company where he is specifically working on initiatives to improve creativity and innovation in children.
Prior to his current role, Maness was the vice president of journalism and media innovation at the Knight Foundation. This $2.5 billion private foundation is dedicated to creating informed and engaged communities and is the largest funder of non-profit journalism in the United States. While at Knight, he managed an active portfolio of over $125 million of projects dedicated to driving the digital transformation of the media field. He was also the chair of the Knight Enterprise Fund, an active investor in for-profit media start-ups. The fund's value more than doubled under his leadership and he continues as an active adviser.
Before his work at Knight, Maness was the vice president of design and innovation for USA Today and Gannett, a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest media companies in the U.S. In that role, he introduced human centered design and disruptive innovation approaches to the organization. He oversaw the investment and creation of several start-ups including The Bold Italic, a digital brand created to re-imagine local news coverage. The site won multiple awards and is part of the permanent collection at the Denver Institute of Art for excellence in design.
Maness previously worked at Gannett as the vice president of strategic planning for the newspaper division. He was the chief architect of a transformational effort to shift this $4 billion dollar operation into the digital age. He was the first to introduce the concept of crowdsourcing into journalism and was selected by Presstime for its "20 Under 40" feature that recognizes young leaders in the industry.
His history with Gannett also includes leading digital efforts across several websites and news organizations. He was one of the early pioneers of digital journalism, winning multiple awards for breaking news, original video content and web design.
Maness has also co-founded two of his own start-ups: the Ozark Mountain Biscuit Company (a food truck which will open a storefront in 2015) and The Hudson Standard (an organic, small-batch beverage company). In addition, he helped to launch Modern Farmer (a national magazine and website dedicated to the farm-to-table movement) and formed Subculture, a consulting firm that helps organizations define and reach their future.
He serves on the Board of Trustees for the Newseum in Washington, D.C., and on the Advisory Board for IDEO, one of the world's leading design companies. Maness also serves on the Media Advisory Board for the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City.
He attended Northwestern University where he was an award-winning writer and graduated with honors in English Literature.
