Jonathan was the PR manager for Sony Corporation in its heyday, representing the company’s far-flung ‘non-consumer’ business units – at the age of 25, he was acclaimed as one of the youngest managers in Sony corporate history. Sony products in the non-consumer area include professional audio/video equipment, computers, peripherals and semiconductors. As a key member of the headquarters corporate communications staff, his role included counseling top management, day-to-day product PR responsibility and control of a million dollar+ budget – all within a few years of graduating college.
Jonathan has gained the respect of leading media, analysts and peers for his in-depth technical knowledge as well as his marketing prowess and industry contacts. He has not only architected some of the most successful launches and publicity campaigns in Silicon Valley – he has even been involved in product engineering and hardware design for his clients! As a member of IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) for the past 11 years and also a past member of SMPTE (the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers), his interest in product design is not overly surprising.
Through his expertise, Horizon was awarded Agency of Record status at Apple, SGI and other Fortune 500 companies, as well as a host of startups. He has arranged Business Week and Forbes cover stories, as well as articles in leading business, consumer and high-tech venues.
He has been personally profiled in a number of publications for his renowned business acumen, unique style and involvement in charitable activities. These include BusinessWeek, The New York Times, RJ Magazine, the San Francisco J! and the San Jose Mercury News. Jonathan was recently invited to be part of the San Jose Mercury News ‘Rethink Project’ as well as providing counsel related to citizen journalism.
Jonathan was a regular contributing editor for 3D Magazine, as well as writing for publications such as Electronic Engineering Times – he has recently contributed to gigaom.com. Jonathan has also been invited to speak at several prestigious venues, most recently to address the Reuters Foundation Digital Vision Program at Stanford University.
To gain a better sense of Jonathan as a person, the following details may prove helpful:
Jonathan is a renowned epicurean, wine connoisseur and chef, with additional passions for history, philosophy, art, music, the sciences and a number of other subjects (both abstruse and mundane). Jonathan currently sits on the Board of Trustees at a 147-year old non-profit and is active in several charitable organizations. His unique sense of humor is a source of constant amusement (and/or bemusement) to his friends, family and colleagues.
A known travel addict, Jonathan has devoted a large part of his life to exploring the world (with much of it still to go!) as evidenced below:
Gina Hughes, the acclaimed ‘Techie Diva’, high-tech style doyenne and blogger on Yahoo! Tech, describes Jonathan’s personally-designed Macbook Pro laser etch as “the coolest laptop – by far – that I have ever seen!”. Ryan Block, Editor of Engadget says: “Whoa, intense.” Jason Chen, Senior Associate Editor of Gizmodo says: “It’s quite a looker.” Jason Pontin, Editor-in-Chief of Technology Review said: “That is the single coolest thing I have ever seen on the back of a Macbook.”
‘JH’ is also recognized for having the epitome in cool (and versatile) business cards (and for the record, they are not aluminum, as noted by CNET – they are in fact acid-etched solid steel and have since moved onto a Rev 2.0 design that is even more intriguing). :)