Since the very beginning, in 1998, Todd has led JUXT in creating an array of effective and innovative interactive media projects. Under his leadership, JUXT has become a globally recognized studio, known for a passion to deliver great ideas empowered by world-class design and innovative technology.
In the beginning, Todd focused JUXT’s collective talents toward youth and enthusiast brands. As business matured, he helped broaden JUXT’s client list to include a more diverse group of brands spanning a number of categories. After nearly a decade and a half, the result is a client roster that features some of the world’s most respected brands, including Coca-Cola, Toyota, Scion, Sprite, Adobe, FUSE TV, Target, Sam Adams, Boost Mobile, Billabong, Volcom, Xbox, and Sony. The resulting list of industry accolades is equally impressive.
In the process of growing JUXT, Todd took time out to write a book and tour the world, speaking at various conferences on the subject of interactive media.
If you were to ask Todd what his favorite project was he would probably say JUXT’s most recent project. He attributes this to his child-like curiosity and an ever-present passion for new challenges.
Jeff Henning
Chief Executive Officer
Jeff has been with JUXT since its inception. Acting as COO in its infancy, he was responsible for assisting in the birth of JUXT from the business plan to the awarding of its first Clio. Although Jeff stepped away from the company in 2001, he left behind his passion and love for the team and business JUXT had become. Jeff returned home to JUXT in 2008 to lead the acquisition by the George P. Johnson Company. During such, he assumed the helm as CEO.
By experience and education, Jeff is a versatile business professional with over 30 years of achievements in rapid growth and start-up environments. His leadership and management experience allows him to readily identify market trends, capitalize on new revenue opportunities, and implement programs to increase profits. Areas of emphasis include growing team culture, recruitment and retention, communication, process and policy methodology, business strategy, and growth.
Jeff’s primary responsibilities at JUXT involve working closely with the team to improve the quality of work product, client satisfaction, career development, and company profitability. Having worked with creative teams in many mediums, Jeff offers a unique and effective management style that fosters a creative culture and fuels the passions that lead to success.
Jeff’s previous successes include being the co-founder of LA Cellular, one of two primary wireless carriers in Southern California. As a wireless pioneer, Jeff helped develop many of the standards utilized in the wireless industry today. Additionally, he owned and operated a non-wireline utility (CLEC), produced music with published and recorded artists, and continues to develop and arbitrage properties.
While away from his family at JUXT, Jeff spends considerable time at home with his other large family. His passions include anything that brings adrenaline to new heights, fitness and boxing challenges, music, and continuing to write the best worst-selling novel of all time.
Josh spearheads sales, marketing, and PR for JUXT, as well as serving as the company’s primary liaison to the sister agencies within Project: Worldwide. Josh also fosters numerous strategic partnerships with media, technology, and mobile start-ups to impact the JUXT offering. Josh recently celebrated 10 years with JUXT, and was one of the three partners that sold the company to George P. Johnson in 2008.
Prior to JUXT, Josh worked and lived in Asia for three years, hosting an English-teaching TV program watched by six million adoring junior high school students.
Josh graduated with his B.A. from Loyola Marymount University, and earned his Master of Arts Degree in Communication Management from the University of Southern California. He served for five years as an adjunct professor at USC, teaching a graduate-level Interactive Marketing course, and guest lectures an Introduction to Advertising class.
Kristen has taken the long way to get to where she is today. Upon graduating from UCLA with a degree in Psychology, she explored a wide variety of careers (therapy, teaching, toy design, elephant conservation, and professional cooking among others) across three countries (US, Japan, and Hong Kong) before finally accepting that happiness lies in digital production and process management. This is her second stint at JUXT: the first time as a Senior Producer, and this time around as Director of Production Services.
In the 13 years since deciding to pursue a career in the digital realm, Kristen has managed teams and produced interactive projects for a range of clients including StarTV, Fox Movies, Red Earth Cosmetics in Hong Kong, and Coca-Cola, Sony, Samuel Adams, Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr, Kawasaki, Land Rover, Hilton, Virgin America, Hitachi, Microsoft Xbox, Singapore Tourism Board, Toshiba, Accenture, Callaway Golf, Cisco, Honda, Lexus, and Toyota in the US.
Having successfully delivered across platforms and technologies including video, social, mobile, OOH, and variety of rich media, she excels at capturing needs and requirements to identify appropriate approach and delivery medium, culminating in accurate scope and budget definitions and skills-based resourcing for precise executions.
She is a strong believer in making things happen and doing it right the first time.
Saren Sakurai is the Director of Client Service with JUXT in Newport Beach, California, a division of George P Johnson.
Saren has a long record of working with innovative brands that target multi-cultural teens and general market young adults, including extensive experience within an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) framework while working with Kraft Foods and Coca-Cola.
Over the last 16 years, Saren has worked with some of the most forward-thinking and innovative brands in the country, including Nike, Toyota, Scion, Lexus, Coca-Cola, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, and Kraft Foods.
His projects have been featured in Contagious Magazine, Creativity Online, AdAge, BrandWeek, Event Marketer, and many projects have been honored by the FWA. His writing has appeared in Salon and Wired Magazine.
After 13 years in the interactive space Bill still feels the thrill of delivering innovation, business value and delight to clients and users alike. He has led product development efforts for a wide array of industries and categories including communications, design, ecommerce, enterprise software, financial services, information services, marketing and media. In the 7 years prior to joining JUXT, Bill ran his own product and UX planning practice where he had the opportunity to work with luminary thinkers/designers such as John Maeda (MIT Media Lab & RISD), Yves Behar (fuseproject), Chris Anderson (WIRED) and client companies ranging from stealth start-ups to Google.
Bill took a hiatus from his primary passion for developing products to join JUXT in 2009. What made him do it? A fascination with large-scale projects that required achieving the impossible. JUXT’s unwavering insistence on pushing the envelope in meaningful ways was too tempting to pass up.
Now things have come full circle. Bill leads the Client Service team in our San Francisco office, working to insure total client satisfaction with our strategic design, UX planning and design, engineering and technical planning work. In addition, Bill heads up JUXT's Product Services team in San Francisco. In this role he combines operational experience with lean start-up principles to develop a diverse array of products and platforms. Our product services group applies its capabilities to develop work in support of our clients as well as stand-alone products for a variety of markets.
When he’s not playing in the digital sandbox Bill can be found playing with his wife and kids (and dog), cooking up something new and challenging in the kitchen, dancing, or just doing his level best to take in life.
Les Cheong
Director of Engineering
Les has been directly involved in software development since the mid-1980s, touching almost every aspect of technology. Starting his career at networking giants 3Com and Novell, Les worked on low-level protocols, server and client software, and built the first HTTP (web) server to run on the Novell's Netware operating system.
Since those early days, Les turned more entrepreneurial, working with a handful of startups producing NAS/SAN devices, Java facilities management devices before joining his friends to co-found RocketCash in 1999, a leading teen shopping portal of its time. It was at RocketCash that Les met Todd and the early JUXT team, where JUXT was introduced to The Coca-Cola Company as the Coca-Cola Company had acquired RocketCash to advance its digital marketing websites.
Since RocketCash and The Coca-Cola Company, Les was a software security consultant, helping high-profile companies such as Visa with their internal security and federated solutions. Les' last company—Enfensa—was a consulting company producing software architecture and products for Fortune 50 companies in addition to JUXT. In 2010, Les joined JUXT full-time to head up the technology team.
If you ask Les what he enjoys most about being at JUXT, he would say it's the opportunity to build the technology team at JUXT to become as strong and as well-known in the industry as the creative side already is.
Brian has been leading digital design initiatives for 13 years for clients ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, in industries ranging from consumer packaged goods to technology to financial services to new media.
Brian joined the JUXT team in August 2011 after 10 years running his own studio, where he led major redesign projects for Visa Inc., the San Francisco Chronicle, and MarketWatch.com, among many other engagements.
Prior to starting his own business, Brian founded and led the content strategy discipline for the legendary Phoenix Pop Productions, a pioneer in Internet consulting and design.
Brian loves working through tough problems—balancing business needs, user goals, and development constraints—then bringing it all together in an experience that inspires customer engagement and delight.
Michael Polivka
Managing Director, San Francisco
Michael has been working with interactive media since 1992 in a variety of roles including visual designer, information architect, audio and video technician, animator, developer, and project manager. This experience as a multi-disciplinary team member has given him a solid collection of skills and techniques for leading and managing teams, building and maintaining supportive infrastructures, and guiding diplomatic efforts.
His key responsibilities at JUXT involve working closely with the CEO in establishing the strategic vision and goals for the San Francisco office, and then steering the team towards profitability by working with JUXT and Project: WorldWide leads in creating and enforcing P&L goals, processes, and operational procedures.
Prior to JUXT, Michael worked with advertising agencies and marketing communication firms including Left Field, Resource Interactive, Hot Studio, and TBWA\Chiat\Day, where, as Executive Producer, he lead the Interactive Design and Production group responsible for numerous online ad campaigns and several high profile consumer web sites, including Nissan’s Z.com. Additional clients have included Adidas, Apple, Burton Snowboards, Charles Schwab, eBay, Hewlett-Packard, and Sony PlayStation.
Michael is a student of natural healing arts and psychology, and is studying issues surrounding consumerism, branding, and human interaction. When not working or reading, you’ll likely find him cruising Sonoma wine country with his wife in their convertible.