Ian Rhett

It’s all about forward motion for Ian Rhett. As self-styled talent manager and resource advocate at CivicActions, his role is two-fold: find the best people and put them in the right place at the right time. He honed his skills at Razorfish L.A., where he grew the cutting-edge web developer from thirteen to eighty employees within a year. Stints with Hollywood and multi-media firms followed, each informing his ability to assess talent and facilitating his ease with both artists and engineers. A desire for ethical abundance brought him to CivicActions, where he is now a partner.

It is by virtue of the firm’s extensive networks that Ian gains access to great talent. Community-building events such as Drupalcon and Drupal User Groups speak to the firm’s strength and how it chooses to do business. Once new hires are on-boarded, they are quickly integrated via a sophisticated resource matrix that addresses short- and long-term client needs; capacity planning schedules drill down further and see to it that every project is properly staffed. A natural extension of this work has Ian at the helm of the firm’s Strategy group, where he and his team shepherd the firm’s clients toward a comprehensive Internet strategy.

Being ahead of the curve has long fascinated Ian, especially as it relates to viral trajectories on the Internet. As a cause-driven musician, he is keen to understand how his music plays online. In an utterly grass-roots venture, he launched GenerateKindness.org to see how many like-named stickers he could get into circulation. The fact that he has nearly 100,000 yet-to-be-filled sticker requests speaks volumes on the Internet’s ability to focus human attention and compel people to take action.