“It is my great privilege to offer an unequivocal recommendation of Jason Tennenhouse to your organization. It is an honor both personally and professionally, as Mayor of West Lafayette, Indiana, to attest to the quality of his character, his creativity, his service-minded nature and leadership skills. Jason is a person of impeccable character. He has extraordinary problem-solving skills, mastery of the principles of design in practical applications, and a firm grasp of the human-centered design process. He is also able to articulate the intangibles in design, in markets that don’t exist yet today. He is clearly a visionary. Jason is a person of intelligence, morality, and integrity and utilizes his skills and abilities to positively inspire those of whom he has influence.”
-John R. Dennis, Mayor City of West Lafayette, Indiana
“Jason has a proven track record of placemaking, experience creation and strategic to tactical innovation. He is one of the most prolific thinkers I’ve ever met that has an amazing intellect, propensity to constantly learn and an insatiable curiosity of the world around him that allows him to collect ideas from all sorts of non-traditional places, to sift and filter them and ultimately apply them in a very useful manner to the problem at hand.”
-Patrick M. Flanagan VP, Digital Strategy & Marketing Simon Property Group
“Jason has been one of the most creative and entrepreneurial person’s I have known in the past 20 years. I have witnessed him creating, developing, and leading several nonprofit companies. He is an entrepreneur who cares about making the world a better place and is always looking for opportunities to apply design principles to do so. He has extraordinary problem-solving skills, mastery of the principles of design in practical applications, and a firm grasp of the human-centered design process. I am currently proposing him to be a named instructor in the School for design, and I am confident that this nomination will be approved in the near term. Jason is positive, dynamic, productive, friendly, and conveys an attitude of character and competence in everything he does.”
-Dr. Karthik Ramani, Donald W. Feddersen Professor of Mechanical Engineering Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (by Courtesy) Division of Environmental and Ecological Engineering University Faculty Scholar
Purdue University
“It is with distinct pleasure and enthusiasm that I write the letter of recommendation for Jason Tennenhouse. Jason is an outstanding young man who I truly believe represents the best and brightest in our community. I was impressed from the first time I met him and he only continues to impress me more. He has extraordinary problem-solving skills, and can quickly evaluate situations to formulate solutions and processes to move people and projects forward. He has strong communication skills and can connect with people on all different levels and in a wide range of fields and circumstances. Jason is highly upbeat, energetic and I have personally witnessed his work ethic on many occasions. The bottom line is “he gets it.”
-Tony Roswarski, Mayor City of Lafayetette, Indiana
“Jason is extremely creative and a joy to work with. He has great listening and communication skills and applies those to his talent of design thinking. We have recommended Jason to many others who needed design and marketing assistance and everyone we have referred has had the same positive results in working with Jason. I highly recommend Jason.”
-Matt McKillip, Statewide Director of Research & Innovation at Purdue University, and formerly Mayor of Kokomo, Indiana
“Jason is a creative thinker with an analytical mind and he will help you achieve your goals. Jason’s ability to challenge our group with well thought out questions and redirect conversations into more productive directions were extremely helpful in our work. Jason was instrumental in helping us manage our own expectations while at the same time striving for greatness - a challenging balance at times. His thoughtful application of theory and practice to our challenges and opportunities helped us move forward at every step. Jason is the best type of consultant - one who adds value for today and for tomorrow.”
-James L. M. Taylor, CEO United Way of Greater Lafayette, Indiana
“Jason has the ability to think critically and logically as well as to push beyond conventional wisdom. Public relations, business and financial planning were critical to the project’s launch and success, and he was instrumental in these areas. From startup to launch and now with operations, he has been able to guide and deliver the desired results.”
-Dennis Carson, Economic Development Director, City of Lafayette, Indiana
“Jason was a clear and reasoned voice in [the new program] discussion. He always provided thoughtful and relevant comments that were timely and insightful…I have also served with Jason on the Board of Greater Lafayette Commerce. Jason’s addition to this Board is another strong statement about Jason’s stature in our community. Through this organization, Jason will influence the direction of the Greater Lafayette Community for many years to come.”
-Gary Henriott, Chairman Henriott Group, Inc.
DISTINCTIONS
Top 10 Under 40
Named one of the 10 Top Business Professionals Under 40 among Tippecanoe County’s 180,000 residents by Tippy Connect (2014).
International Design Award
Recognized for a HOW International Design Award for an identity system, alongside such brands as Seagrams and Coke (2012).
Volunteer of the Year
Recognized as a Volunteer of the Year for the City of West Lafayette for an annual music and arts street festival drawing over 10,000 people each year.
Placemaking Award
Ball State University Primacy of Place architecture award finalist for a space that stimulates a local economy through human capital development (2014).
Downtown Civic Award
Received the prestigious Greater Lafayette Digby Award for the positive impact of a coworking space in downtown Lafayette (2014).
Public Art Award
West Lafayette Center City Award for Preservation, for a mural and walkway restoration project installed by the West Lafayette Public Arts Team I helped found (2014).
Literacy Award
Ball State University Primacy of Place Award Winner for a literacy non-profit I helped create involving over 600 volunteers working weekly in every 3rd grade classroom in Tippecanoe County (2014).
People’s Choice Award
A restaurant I designed has won Best Coffee Shop among over a dozen contenders by the local paper’s people’s choice award 6 years in a row, as well as many additional category wins.
Fortune 100 Sales
Designed products that sold tens of millions of units to retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, and Toys-R-Us, including several individual orders over 3M.
Permanent Exhibit
A 5,000 sqft. installation I designed at The Indianapolis Children’s Museum, the largest children’s museum in the world, has become a permanent exhibit experienced by over 1M people a year.
BOARD APPOINTMENTS
Greater Lafayette Commerce
Serving as a sort of parent oversight of all significant civic boards, GLC is the unification of the former Economic Development Council, Downtown Development Council, Capital Resource Council, Chamber of Commerce Council, and Workforce Development Council.
Chamber of Commerce Quality of Life Council
Improving the quality of life for Greater Lafayette to bring it from a good to great City.
Community Commitment to Education
Greater Lafayette United Way initiative to improve education and literacy for at risk youth through their Read to Succeed and Ready to Learn initiatives.
City of West Lafayette Public Arts Team
Developing a vision and strategy for the future of public art in our City.
MatchBOX Coworking Studio
MatchBOX is Lafayette's first coworking space, one of its premiere economic development initiatives, and the largest space of its kind in the region. It's a place to work for those who don't have places to work. Think of a coffee shop mashed up with an office park in an old garage.
LafayetTech
Lafayettech, Inc. is a local Greater Lafayette, Indiana non-profit, public benefit corporation that connects local businesses and individuals to educate on the impact of emerging technologies in our area since 2008.
The Anvil
The Anvil is Purdue's new technology incubator supporting tomorrow's tech stars and leaders.
Swipe Out Starvation
Supporting food scarcity both locally and internationally. Also serve as co-founder.
Project Heart
Reforming healthcare, education, and agriculture in Ethiopia.
Isometry Software
Developing solutions to improve retail point of sale technologies.
GUEST LECTURES
TEDx
I was honored to have the distinction of being the lead presenter at the first ever TED Talk at Purdue University: "Initiate Innovation.”
Brokering Innovation distance lecture broadcast on 5 continents (US, Africa, India, Netherlands, Colombia)
Purdue College of Engineering
Guest instructor and participant in multiple NSF grants in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, which U.S. News and World Reports ranked #7 in 2012.
ME553 “Product and Process Innovation”
ME497 “Design Thinking” Unit
ME444 “Computer-Aided Design”
ME463 “Senior Engineering Design”
Purdue Krannert School of Business Undergraduate and Graduate courses
MGMT646 “New Product Design”
MGMT423 “New Product Development”
Purdue College of Technology
TECH120 "Technology and the Individual"
Guest instructor for all 700 introductory students in the School of Technology.
Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for disabled Veterans lecture
Purdue Marketing Association
Purdue Innovation Club
Purdue Business Innovation & Technology Club