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CHRIS MACPHERSON

An experienced technology architect, design strategist, and builder of teams, products, and strategies 

ABOUT

  • Entrepreneur
  • Design Strategist
  • Technology Architect
  • Operator
  • Professor
  • Speaker
  • Musician

I design and build teams, products, and systems that help people make better decisions under uncertainty. My work sits at the intersection of design, engineering, and applied machine learning—most often in national security and risk-oriented domains.

I currently teach courses on creativity and design at Princeton University and work at Lovelace AI in Pittsburgh.

Previously, I led growth and strategy at Shift (a16z-backed), where I launched our federal business practice and built a venture capital and startup immersion program for military innovators (Defense Ventures). Before that, I helped build the applied data & intelligence systems go-to-market practice at Frog, built and led an internal talent research startup at Bridgewater Associates, oversaw counterterrorism and influence operations at the Pentagon, ran a team at the White House Situation Room, and was recruited out of college by the NSA.

I’m trained as a computer scientist and hold advanced degrees from Princeton University and the National Intelligence University.

Career Timeline
Education Defense Finance Design Tech Academia
2000
2010
2020
2026
Hamilton College
Skillview Technologies
National Security Agency
National Intelligence University
White House Situation Room
Princeton University
Office of the Secretary of Defense
NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Office of the Secretary of Defense
Bridgewater Associates
Frog Design
Princeton University
Shift.org
Shadestream
EquipmentShare
Lovelace AI

This portfolio is a sample of my work and interests. If you’d like to get in touch, email chris@shadestream.com or connect on LinkedIn.

BUILD

I’m interested in wicked problems that improve how humans cooperate, make decisions, and build sustainable growth. I’m drawn to systems where incentives, institutions, and emerging technology collide.

I also teach creativity and design futures at Princeton, where I run students through the same loop I use in industry: observe → model → prototype → test → iterate.

Things to Reimagine


  • Taxation
  • Healthcare
  • Hiring
  • Public Service / Civic Participation
  • Community
  • Governance
  • Higher Education
  • Transfers of Wealth
  • Labor Unions

Whys


  • Is gaming the next large-scale form of human cooperation (like money, religion, and nations)?
  • How does capturing data about behavior change behavior (are you shaping the data, or is the data shaping you)?
  • Why aren’t there new pricing models?
  • Why do we hire individuals instead of teams?
  • Why is hiring still mostly pattern matching?
  • Why is college four years long?

Hows 


  • Abductive reasoning technologies 
  • Large-scale simulations
  • Affective computing
  • Minimum viable communities
  • Pay for value vs. pay for service
  • Sustainable investing (returns not based on debt that future populations have to pay back into)
  • Augmented intelligence platforms
  • 21st-century design
  • Volumetric data & edge compute
  • Synthetic media
  • Layering digital intelligence into physical structures

Wheres (Areas and Matkets)


  • Robotics and autonomy
  • Generative Applications
  • Esports & gaming
  • Cohort-based learning
  • New frontiers of manufacturing (synthetic biology, “warehouse zero,” and sustainability)
  • Non-permissive logistics
  • Rethinking urban environments
  • Blockchain governance
  • Tech for aging populations
  • Decision science
  • Decentralizing national security operations
  • Outer space
  • No-code rapid prototyping

Whats (Problem Spaces)


  • Humans and robots working together
  • Cameras/sensors that count things
  • Understanding intent from imagery
  • Insurance in space
  • Consumer-owned career experience records (Apple HealthKit, but for work)
  • Metaverse for learning
  • Mapping social networks
  • AI integration / AI design
  • Decision anticipation
  • Professional networking & mentorship
  • Expert networks
  • Loneliness
  • Layoffs
  • Ageism
  • Getting rid of résumés
  • Future of work (money, meaning, discretion, learning, connection)
  • Revitalizing legacy cities

Futurist & Fun


  • Mars Simulation
  • Dogs in Space

Send me a message at chris@shadestream.com or connect with me on Linkedin if you’re interested in building any of these things.


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TECH

Experiences

  • Shift (2019-2022)
  • NSA (2000-2003)

Skills

  • Operation
  • Product Management
  • Pricing, Revenue Modeling
  • Client Management, Sales, Pitching
  • Recruiting
  • Python, Java, SQL, Neo4J Graph Query, CMS/CS
  • Modeling, Data Analysis & BI Tools

My father would bring IBM XT computer home from work on the weekends when I was a child. I’d spend hours breaking and rebuilding the MS-DOS operating system (it was the 80s), playing GWBasic floppy disk games, and exploring the local BBSes which predated the internet with a 14.4k modem.

During college, I worked front end web development at Skillview Technologies, a startup backed by Berkshire Capital Investors (which eventually became Village Ventures) in Western Massachusetts. After college, I joined the National Security Agency as a computer scientist. While I started out as a software engineer, I soon transitioned to a position that today would likely be called a data scientist. However, it was called something else back then because the term data scientist wasn't in use yet.

My intelligence career allowed me to investigate and model human behavior and decision making. I liked it more than pure coding, and because of advancements in computers, data storage and algorithms, much of my work since then touches on how data and intelligence can transform different industries and missions. I am more of a decision scientist than a data scientist, but I still enjoy coding and building products when I can.



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Created a best-in-class experiential learning program and talent intelligence platform for the U.S. Military
Chris MacPherson Copyright 2022