Episode 24: Jason Kunesh
A younger—and pre-mustache—Jason Kunesh with president Barack Obama.
“And it scared the hell out of me because I realized that about 2.5 years of work can be lost in the next few minutes.”
From the Episode
Chicago’s Public Mark
About Jason
It’s not easy to define Jason Kunesh. The Chicago native is a kaleidoscope of sorts.
He was an early team member at Orbitz long before the travel website field was a crowded hot mess. He worked at ThePoint.com, which later rebranded to Groupon. And he founded and led Fuzzy Math, a UX design shop in Chicago.
And then, he took a hard left into the world of politics as the first Director of User Experience and Product for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. After his old boss got elected, Jason founded Public Good Software, perhaps the first tech startup in social enterprise.
After Public Good, Jason’s trailblazing brought him to Chicago’s City Hall, where he served as the city’s first Design Director, responsible for rebuilding service delivery through the city’s 311 system, leading Chicago’s digital response through COVID-19, and creating the Public Mark, the once in a century new identify for Chicago and its people.
His design work has earned awards like the Cannes Lions, Webbys, and countless others.
Jason is also an accomplished guitarist — even if his arena is the Metro’s main stage and assorted dive bars in the Midwest.
His presence was once deemed so imposing, that he was hired as a bouncer at the Green Mill, enforcing order and ensuring the highest quality patronage at the iconic jazz club.
And last but not least, Jason likes to share, specifically his knowledge, with wide-eyed students at Northwestern University, where he is an adjunct lecturer.