Have you ever met a technological Renaissance man? Someone who evokes the creative genius of a Leonardo Da Vinci applied to devices and software? Imagine a person, an owner of a security alarm company, with no training in biological sciences and laboratory techniques, designing and patenting a safer process to fuse cells after some conversations with genetic scientists. Think of someone who, back in 2008, could take a NFC (near field communication) chip and embed it in an LCD display so that digital coupons he inserted into the commercials of an international skin-care products company could, with a wave an NFC-enabled loyalty card over the ad running on the display, be deposited onto the card.  

Well, such a Renaissance man exists, and he is Jeff Hilliard, the President & CEO of Compudigital Industries, located in Rocklin, CA. He is also a Board Member of the American Heart Association. He’s a Renaissance man with an iconic style, characterized by the neon-colored footwear that sets him off at every business meeting he attends. Hilliard’s career has paralleled the development of modern electronics, from the early days of “build-it-yourself hobby” computers to the brave new world of connected devices and the applications they run. His ability to see things differently and his agility in moving quickly to develop devices and services before the accepted paradigms change has made him a brilliant success story, one young entrepreneurs could do well emulating. Hilliard is the holder of three patents, two of which relate to improvements in cell-fusion techniques (4,695,547 and 4,882,281), and one that helped changed the way restaurants do business (5,272,474).