George Ward, VP of Innovation at Neiman: man behind Twitter-controlled Nerf gun, online holiday cheer tracker

In effort to grow our community, we want to introduce you to interesting Philadelphians you might not know. Each week, we’ll speak to someone new and have that person introduce us to someone else we should know. Last week: Steph Parker of Center City marketing agency Neiman. This week: George Ward, also of Neiman. (And no, we normally won’t do two people in a row from the same company.)

A global holiday cheer tracker. A Nerf gun powered by Twitter. A cheesesteak joint ranking list based on Foursquare checkins.

Those are a few of the projects George Ward and his team are dreaming up at Center City marketing agency Neiman. Below, take a look at his workspace, hear about what Philly tech org he wants to collaborate with and find out why 4:30 on Fridays at Neiman are the best part of the week.

George Ward’s workstation at Neiman

Get to know Ward a bit better:

1.  A/S/L? 37/m/East Philly (a/k/a – So. Jersey)
2. How long have you lived in Philly? Been at Neiman? Lived in the Philly DMA all my life. Left [marketing agency] Razorfish after seven years, and joined Neiman in November of 2007. So, just over five years now.
3. Tell us about a cool project you’re working on at Neiman Labs. We’ve got plenty of technologies we want to experiment with in 2013 – gestural interfaces, Near Field (NFC), etc. And of course, we don’t want to walk completely away from the learnings from the social data/API hacks and physical/digital fusion projects we’ve done so far. Some of the most exciting conversations we are having focus on new and interesting uses of technology in the retail space. I hope we can pilot at least one of those ideas in 2013.
4. What does an average day at work look like for you? The only thing that is typical about my work day is coffee > coffee > lunch > coffee.
5. What’s your favorite Philly tech scene company? GRASP Laboratory at Penn. I’d love to collaborate with some of their students, have them teach us about mechanical and electrical engineering, and bring some of our shared ideas to market for the brands we work with.
6. Tell us about a workplace tradition or a part of company culture at Neiman Labs. Anything special your team does together? Every Friday, we have an internal happy hour at 4:30 p.m. Beer, wine, cheese, fruit and other various snacks — it is a pretty nice spread. Employees are encouraged to shutdown and spend the last hour of the week catching up with coworkers on a more personal level.
7. Can you introduce us to someone in the broad local tech scene who you think doesn’t get enough attention? Principal at DmgCtrl, Mac Morgan.

Check back for our next installment featuring Mac Morgan, Principal at DmgCtrl.