Steve’s New Gig at GS1, and the Unambiguous Identification of “Things”

BarcodeIt is an honor and a pleasure to announce that I have joined GS1 as the Chief Technology Officer and President of Standards Development.  I’ll be based near beautiful and intersting Princeton, New Jersey, and traveling frequently (as usual).

You may not recognize the name, but you will definitely recognize GS1′s products. GS1 is the international, neutral, non-profit organization that develops and manages the world’s barcodes (40 years old in 2013), RFID tag technology (e.g. electronic tags for vehicles, shipping containers, consumer goods, even running race chips) and other standards for the unambiguous identification of things (entities, assets, products, services) and sharing of data.   All of this is critical for business, health, safety, sustainability and other life-critical activities around the world. Here is what I’ll be doing  …

My primary responsibility is to make GS1′s standards program the “Best in Class”. I’m also responsible for managing internal IT, overseeing our Princeton office, and targeting emerging technologies which may be important to future of GS1 standards.  In this regard, it should be possible to empower GS1′s “Internet of Things”, through tighter integration with the Internet, the Web, open linked data, mobile, privacy, security, accessibility, internationalization, and more.

On a personal note, Amy, my four kids and I have built a wonderful network in Winchester, Massachusetts over the past 11 years. Yours truly has already moved to Princeton (commuting to Winchester over weekends). Amy and I will be selling our historic (e.g. “old”) Winchester home, and looking for a new home around Princeton in the coming months.  Our kids are pretty independent, with the youngest a sophomore in college (how did that happen?).  All of them have mixed feelings about our move, given their happy history and group of friends around Boston. But they are all supportive (and who knows where they will be in the next couple of years?).  Through schools, sports, our great neighborhood, my swift running club, our incredible old-guys rock band “SIX” and the many other activities of my wife and kids, we have made so many fantastic friends for life.  I know we will keep in touch through the years, but I’ll miss seeing everyone around on a regular basis. Come on down and visit us in NJ!

Finally, many, many thanks to all those who provided advice and connections during my job search.  I am blessed with an incredible network, without which this great job would have never come my way.

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