Chris Cowart serves as the managing director for the Nomura-SRI Innovation Center (NSIC) and is responsible for its operations, creating program content, forming partnerships and working with the member companies. Cowart has been a user experience, design and product executive over the course of his career. He has worked across brands, innovation consulting and venture communities for more than 25 years.

Prior to SRI International, Cowart was the Chief Innovation & Strategy Officer at Treasure8, a food tech company leading a Resource Revolution® to bring disease-fighting, sustainable nutrition to a rapidly growing planet. He has also been a Venture Partner at Montage Ventures for 2 funds — in addition to his role at Treasure8 — focused on disrupting retail, health & wellness, and consumer financial services.

A formative part of his work experience includes 14 years at design and innovation consulting firm, IDEO. Here Cowart pioneered the human factors and user research disciplines in the design industry and launched many ‘first of their categories’ products for the company. He fluidly spans the disciplines of user-centered design, product, partnerships and business, and his continuous learning approach has allowed him to add new facets such as venture capital and future forecasting.

As a thought leader on the future of sports and the future of medicine, Chris’ speaking appearances and publications focus on the leading edge of those fields. He is an engaging speaker, facilitator and thought leader who leverages design and strategic thinking to provoke teams and industries to accelerate change through innovation.