Mike Pell

Bold, insightful, and uncompromising, Mike Pell is an unapologetic disrupter, having spent over three decades pushing the tech industry’s boundaries well past innovative design and technologies into the realm of true breakthroughs.

Today, many of those breakthroughs are imbedded in our everyday lives – Apple’s stylized Font menu (1984), pioneering 3D work on the original Metaverse (1995), and most significantly, inventing Adobe Acrobat’s PDF (1990) – which Pell hacked together in a matter of days, bridging what was considered at the time the great insurmountable tech divide between Apple and Microsoft.

As one of the industry’s most dynamic presenters, Pell delivers impactful and entertaining talks on today’s most important topics – such as the nature of True Innovation, the Metaverse, AI and Mixed Reality, and Notes from the Future of Business. Pell’s unique approach to the work of rapidly bringing new ideas to life gave rise to his “Fast Design” methodology – an easily taught set of innovation principles used by teams around the world.

Widely recognized as a world-class designer and prolific thought leader, Pell currently leads The Microsoft Garage in New York City, part of the company’s worldwide innovation program for moving ideas forward quickly to foster a culture of experimentation. An attractor for the city’s brightest minds and bravest explorers, this unique space designed by Pell, enables a new kind of envisioning and rapid prototyping to turn promising ideas into reality, every day.

Pell’s first book, “Envisioning Holograms” is considered a must-have for tomorrow’s most influential storytellers and explorers. His second book “The Age of Smart Information” details how the fundamental nature of communication is transforming with the combination of AI and Metaverse technologies. Mike’s third book "Visualizing Business", due out Spring 2023, shows our most complex and dynamic businesses in an entirely new light.