Micheal Perman

Michael Perman galvanizes teams and whole organizations to think and act differently, while helping them envision a future of prosperity and growth. Michael is the founder of C'EST WHAT? The Mindful Innovation firm based in San Francisco.

Under his leadership, people become better equipped to make strategic choices regarding where to invest their time, energy, and resources for growth. Michael has extensive experience in leading C-Level and Board of Directors level strategy sessions to establish a future path.

Michael is an insights-driven executive, curious about the world and people around him. During his 30 plus year career in new product development, brand strategy, innovation and organizational transformation, Michael has gathered insights from hundreds of ethnography sessions, executive interviews and learning experiences in more than a dozen countries. These sessions were creative fodder for dozens of innovation initiatives in categories of food, fashion, sports, energy, government, finance and retailing.

Michael's experience includes projects for Levi's, Starbucks, General Mills, Nike, Banana Republic, US Bank, The Naval Postgraduate School and the Electric Power Research Institute. His transformational programs were implemented with thousands of employees, leading to more effective teams, more motivated people and growth. Michael's experience is global – having activated insights, innovation and marketing initiatives in several international cities. He also advises smaller organizations, start-ups, agricultural commissions and non-profits to create a path forward.

Most recently. Michael was "Dean" of Innovation for Gap across all brands and functions where he orchestrated 30 innovation leaders and enabled more than 2000 employees to experience and utilize best-in-class innovation tools. His team drove development of new products, new experiences, brand strategy and organizational effectiveness.

Prior to Gap, Michael held several roles at Levi's including Head of Consumer Insights and Senior Director of Global Marketing where he helped reposition and turn around Levi's women's business. He also drove insights leading to the creation of several new sub-brands products including Waterless, Commuter and Denizen, which generated more than $600 MM in revenue.

Michael was previously founder of Brand New Corporation, the innovation and strategy consultancy based in Portland, Oregon where he created new methods of generating insights and ideas.

Michael believes innovation is the "ability to perceive alternative realities and the courage to act upon those visions." His dynamic and creative presentations and workshops illuminate this concept and provides advice on how organizations can take action.

​Michael lives in Larkspur, CA where he enjoys trail running with his dog Artimus, mountain biking, cooking fish and trying to make things grow in the garden.