Backstory
Sanford Dickert (@sanford) has been known for his many hats in areas of Product Management, Technology Innovation and User Driven Design. Given various titles such as “Product Expeditor”, “Marketing Technologist”, “Chief Bottle Washer”, Sanford is known as a creative collaborator using his expertise in technology, product and design understanding to deliver users very successful solutions.
He’s a known and respected entity in the technology, political, and entrepreneurial communities on both US coasts and internationally.
Sanford’s formidable knowledge base, vast network, and unique style sparks fascinating projects — and he gets them done. A forerunner in fields of robotic telepresence, influence marketing, and political advocacy, he’s been the innovating force behind many ubiquitous solutions that businesses and people depend on today and will adopt tomorrow.
Focused on bringing new and indispensable processes to organizations, Sanford has been active in multiple senior positions in technology, product development, and marketing. His effective, customer-focused solutions are found within Fortune 500 firms, leading venture funds, and promising start-ups.
Sanford’s house blend
Sanford combines his technology and system engineering background with natural leadership ability to apply frameworks, generate ideas, and enroll teams to successful outcomes.
He has applied his unique approach to solve formerly intractable market problems in industries like real-time engagement marketing, robotics and telepresence, online publishing and sales, crowdsourced content curation, and application-aware network services.
In the thick of it
Sanford is often found in the innovative spaces that join businesses, investors, and government. During his time in New York City, he strengthened diverse connections throughout in New York’s tech community though coworking (New Work City), interfacing with professional organizations (e.g., Coalition of Office Space Providers, NYC Economic Development Corporation, et al.), academia (as Professor at Cooper Union) and heavy involvement through various professional networks (e.g. New York Tech Meetup).
An engaging public speaker with a mentoring and crusading personality, Sanford’s spoken at events including NY Entrepreneurial Week, Ignite NYC, CASS Business School in London and the Mentor Capital Foundation.
Past lives
Sanford was an Adjunct Professor at Cooper Union and NYU Polytechnic, teaching Web 2.0 and product development concepts; he was also the Chief Technology Officer during the John Kerry for President Campaign. He’s held roles inside numerous startup companies focused on social software and online community services, including eGroups (now Yahoo!), gigabeat (now Napster), hotrecruit, and Interoute (the largest telecoms provider in Western Europe).
“Spare time”
Sanford used to publish his thoughts on social media at The Social Engineer, on robotic telepresence at Pilot Presence and online political and advocacy engagement at Political Gastronomica. He also has contributed numerous media outlets and been asked to speak on the impact of technology in society and education.