Jeff Aramini | Saving the World One User Experience at a Time | AQ's Blog & Grill

AQ's Blog & Grill

English - March 27, 2017 16:45 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MB - ★★★★★ - 1 rating
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Jeff Aramini is the President of Focus21, a firm that is focused around creating online experiences with purpose. In this episode of AQ’s Blog & Grill, Jeff joins Alan to share what he means by that ‘purpose’ and how the growing start-up is working to make a difference in the world.

An immense passion for learning helped Jeff gain a PhD in epidemiology, a doctorate of veterinary medicine and an incoming EMBA from Laurier University. Jeff was introduced to informatics while working with the Public Health Agency of Canada. After about 9 years in the field he discovered he was quite entrepreneurial in nature and made the tough decision to leave government health work to explore. Jeff started up a health informatics firm, which eventually turned into Focus21, located at Communitech in Kitchener, Ontario.

Jeff and Alan discuss the ecosystem found within Communitech and the surrounding region, particularly on the positive energy and supportive nature. They talk about the difference between innovation and entrepreneurship and the benefits to business training through Laurier University’s programs.

Jeff started Focus21 with a mission to make an impact in bettering the lives of others and they certainly are achieving that goal. Focus21 has recently worked with the World Council for City Data to build a data exploration portal, which is now being used in over 120 cities. They also are working with STC (Scientific Technologies Corporation) in providing public health solutions to states, provinces and now the consumer. Most recently, the team was approached by the City of Guelph to work on a platform that leverages peoples’ water consumption data to motivate and incentivize them to decrease their usage.

About Our Guest
Jeff Aramini, founder and President of Focus21, has a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Guelph and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Western College of Veterinary Medicine. Jeff has held a senior position at the Public Health Agency of Canada before founding the software engineering firm, Focus21. At Focus21, Jeff works with his team to building online experience with purpose, using data science and user experience design to make complex platforms simple and intuitive to use.