Alexis Gerard

For the past fourteen years, Gerard's visionary thinking about the convergence of photography and information technology has had a major influence on business leaders both inside and outside the imaging industry. He is the co-author (with Robert Goldstein) of “Going Visual – Using Images to Enhance Productivity, Decision Making and Profits”, published by John Wiley and Sons.

A passionate photographer since his twenties, Alexis Gerard founded Future Image Inc. in 1991, after holding executive positions in new technologies marketing with Apple Computer during the company’s heyday of innovation, which included the development of the Macintosh. Today Future Image is the acknowledged leading independent center of expertise on the convergence of imaging, information and telecommunications technology, and business. Executives, entrepreneurs and investors worldwide rely for their decision-making on its continuous information services (the Future Image Executive Information Service, and the Future Image Mobile Imaging Report), its research studies, and the advice of its consultants. The company is the official information and research partner of the international Imaging Industry Association (I3A).

Gerard's opinions have been quoted at various times in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, International Herald Tribune, USA Today, Financial Times, Newsweek, Business Week, and many others. He chaired the inaugural conference of the Digital Imaging Marketing Association in 1995, and delivered one of two keynotes (the other being Nicholas Negroponte of the MIT Media Lab.) In 2002 he chaired the Future Image/Forbes Visual Communication Executive Summit, and participated in the opening panel of Photokina alongside the CEOs of Kodak, Fuji, Epson, Agfa, and IBM’s Digital Media Division. Most recently he launched the Mobile Imaging Executive Summit, a by-invitation executive conference held three times yearly (Americas, Europe, Asia) which has the unique distinction of gathering senior executives from the imaging, information processing, telecommunications and entertainment industries.

Gerard is a member of the International Advisory Council of the George Eastman House. From 1997 to 1998, he held the positions of President and Executive Director of the Digital Imaging Group (DIG), an open non-profit industry consortium founded by Adobe, Canon, Eastman Kodak, Fuji, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Live Picture and Microsoft to promote the growth of digital imaging into mainstream markets. The DIG is now merged into the I3A (International Imaging Industry Association).