AUTHORS | Jonathan Reichental PhD

For over 30 years, Dr. Jonathan Reichental has been successfully helping organizations leverage the value of information and communications technology to solve business problems, increase effectiveness, and support revenue growth. He has a track record of delivering a high-volume of successful, multi-million-dollar projects and initiatives in both the private and public sectors. Reichental is recognized as a global thought leader on a number of emerging trends including smart cities, the fourth industrial revolution, blockchain technology, data governance, and digital transformation. He is an in-demand board advisor, global keynote speaker, educator, and writer who has written three books on the future of cities: Smart Cities for Dummies, Exploring Smart Cities Activity Book for Kids, and Exploring Cities Bedtime Rhymes. Reichental is currently the founder of Human Future, a global business and technology advisory, investment, and education firm. He is formerly a multiple award-winning Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Palo Alto, focusing on modernizing the technology environment and pushing the possibilities of innovation in local government. He had oversight for over $50M in technology funds per year, and during his seven-years at the city, successfully delivered over 250 technology projects. Under Reichental’s leadership, Palo Alto was named one of the top five digital cities in America four years in a row, including the top spot in 2013. Reichental was awarded the distinction of being one of the 25 Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers in Government in America in 2013.  He also won a best CIO in Silicon Valley award and a national IT leadership prize. In 2016, he was named one of the top 20 most influential CIO’s in the United States and in 2017, he was named one of the top 100 CIOs in the world. Prior to joining the City, Reichental served as CIO of O’Reilly Media, an integrated media company. During his tenure he led the successful technology effort to deploy a new global ecommerce platform, enhanced the financial system, maintained PCI-compliance, implemented an IT governance process, and made several strategic upgrades to the network infrastructure. Before O’Reilly Media, he spent almost 15 years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in a variety of technology-related roles including leading technology innovation for the US firm. Reichental holds several degrees including a Ph.D. in Information Systems. He is an adjunct professor in the School of Management at the University of San Francisco and instructs at several other universities. His work has been featured on US and international television and radio, in magazines, newspapers, and online publications, that include CNN, BBC, NBC, CBS, NPR, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Irish Times, CIO magazine, InformationWeek, Government Technology, Mashable, and many others.