Phil McKinney

McKinney became product development manager for the software division at Prentice Hall publishing in 1982.[5] Later he became director of product development for ThumbScan in 1988.[6] ThumbScan was a key based device that allowed only authorized users to log into encrypted data on a computer.[7] In 1990, McKinney became president of Tereplex.[6] He led the Tereplex agreement with Atmel to license the Minimum Instruction Set Computer (MISC) technology.[8] From 1991 until 1996 he was a senior executive for the Communication Industry consulting practice at Computer Sciences.[6] In 1997, McKinney went to work at Teligent.[9] While at Teligent, McKinney served as senior vice president and CIO.[10]

He became CTO for Network and Server Provider Business division of Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2002.[9][2][11] McKinney served as CTO of HP's Personal Systems Group[12][13][14][15] from 2005[9][16] until 2011.[17][18][19] While at HP, he founded the Innovation Program Office[1] which focused on fostering new technologies, products and services for HP.[14][12][20] His Innovation Program Office (IPO) team created products and technologies including Blackbird, a high-end gaming PC,[21] Firebird, a gaming PC using laptop technology.[22] IPO created Envy 133, a laptop made with carbon fiber which was the thinnest laptop at the time of its release[23] which won a best of category award from I.D.'s annual design review in 2009.[24] The team also created Gabble, a private video sharing platform,[25] Twynergy, which identifies user interests on Twitter and has the ability to compare users,[26] Pluribus, a 3D display technology,[27] Vantage TouchWall, an interactive wall display,[28] and DreamScreen, a touch screen all in one device that was marketed in India.[29][13] These innovations earned HP a spot on Fast Company's list of the world's 50 most innovative companies three years in a row.[30][31][32]

In March 2010, McKinney joined the board of trustees of the Computer History Museum.[33] He authored the book Beyond the Obvious: Killer Questions That Spark Game-Changing Innovation[3] published by Hyperion in February 2012.[14][1] In June 2012,[16][4] McKinney became president and CEO of CableLabs,[3][1] a non-profit cable industry research and innovation lab based in Louisville, Colorado.[34]

McKinney founded and hosts a podcast named Killer Innovations.[4][1] He is a contributing columnist for the Forbes column “The Objective.”[14][4] His board memberships include the advisory board for Hacking Autism and The Computer History Museum.[14][9][33] In 2011, he wrote an article about the “7 Immutable Laws of Innovation.”[35]

McKinney was born in Cincinnati. He is an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts.[36] McKinney lives with his wife in Colorado and has three children.[6]