Bio

Snapshot

With over two decades of interdisciplinary leadership experience at the intersection of culture, technology, and aesthetics, I help businesses develop, launch and market innovative brands, products and services. Actively partnering with talented teams and passionate individuals, I’m committed to transforming industries and improving lives.

Specialties: digital strategy, product innovation, brand development, creative direction, AI content, international marketing, ux design, production (live & studio), market research, customer engagement, systems integration, ecommerce strategy.

Industries: Media, Communications, Technology, Visual Arts, Ecommerce, Publishing, Fashion, Health, Education.

Companies: The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, NBC Universal, Universal Parks & Resorts, Citywalk, Mattel, Goldenvoice, Livenation, AEG, Puma, Fashion Week, CBS Television, TBS Television, Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group.

Backstory

I’ve seen it all. From black & white to color… from cellulose to digital… analogue to digital… paper to website to social to AI. I’m the multisensory artist turned interdisciplinary problem-solver who tasted the dotcom bubble, and is 100% in on artificial intelligence. 

In 1993… At the newly formed media lab in the Fine Arts department at University of Southern California, I walked into a room filled with Macintosh Quadra 840AV towers, loaded with Adobe products. We were lucky to have direct access to the latest from Apple and Adobe… especially with the only two mandates being that (1) there were no rules, and (2) both Apple and Adobe “just wanted to see what we came up with.”

In 1996… While working at a print design shop, a workmate dropped the first edition of HTML for Dummies on my desk. So I began coding in HTML, using simple text, on a 28.8 modem, counting bits, A/B-ing compression algorithms, and battling with AOL. One year later in 1997, I was getting paid to work on Pamela Anderson Lee’s website pushing the limits of 320×240 15fps video. 

In 1998… I caught the dotcom swell which landed me at Disney Online working on convergent media for Disney Television, Feature Animation websites, Disney Theme Parks, and edutainment multimedia projects using FutureSplash (Flash), Dreamweaver, Director, Shockwave, Generator and ColdFusion. 

The trajectory continued as I made the jump to Universal Online, followed innovative startups and other wild ventures.

Rundown (partial list)

Chief Marketing Officer || Children Without Borders
International NGO dedicated to providing K-12 hybrid online education to children in the United States, Mexico, Central America, and South Asia. 

Founder & Editor In Chief || Citizen LA
Los Angeles based magazine and lifestyle media company providing arts & entertainment content, live coverage and event production.

Founder & Digital Strategist || Ear Jelly
R&D Marketing agency developing AI/SaaS products and services for music industry professionals.

Partner & Chief Experience Officer || Artist Intell
Music research predictive analytics company, providing deep-data reporting and hit prediction for major and indie artists.

Partner & Creative Director || Subculture Interactive
Interactive agency offering an enterprise CMS solution for producing, distributing and managing online content.

Art Director & UX Designer || NBC/Universal/Citywalk
Business units and properties include 
Universal Parks & Resorts, Universal Hollywood, Universal Orlando, Universal CityWalk and Universal Pictures, Jurassic Park, Spiderman, Hulk, The Mummy, Halloween Horror Nights, and Grinchmas.  

Art Director & Interactive Developer || The Walt Disney Company
Business units and properties include Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s The Living Seas, including Tarzan, Toy Story, Dinosaurs and Fantasia 2000. 

Founder & Writer/Director/Producer || TMISSION
Story development, writing, direction, production and marketing for online, television, film, and stage productions including features, pilots, docs, talk-shows, sitcoms, reality, in both scripted and non-scripted formats.

School of Fine Arts & Cinematic Arts || University of Southern California
Multidisciplinary approach to entertainment, combining traditional and new media to produce multimedia installations and immersive storytelling experiences.
  

Contact: george.stiehl@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/gcstiehl/