ITG’s Chief Intelligence Officer On Pursuing Meaningful AI Applications

John Lowell views the world as a jigsaw puzzle. In his view, the jagged, irregular, and complicated pieces that make little sense in isolation, all have the potential for something wonderful. That is, if treated with persistence and care. He’s been fascinated by problems for as long as he can remember. Where most of us mere muggles work actively to avoid obstacles, John seeks them out. There’s something about complexity—the untangling of knots—that scratches an itch in his brain. 

John recently joined ITG as chief intelligence officer, where he will oversee the company’s data, insights, and AI-driven initiatives, endeavouring to enhance intelligent content solutions for clients. He’ll be working to deliver innovation in halo content production for ITG’s roster of world-renowned clients, including the likes of Heineken, KFC, and Samsung. 

A Midwestern Man Walks Into a Bar…

When I speak to John, I’m met first by a beaming grin. He’s got a thick midwestern accent that makes everything sound jolly—an otherwise difficult task when discussing matters of AI and tech.

After graduating from the US Naval Academy, he served as an officer and analyst for seven years. It was in his twenties, while simultaneously studying for his MBA and on his last tour of duty, that he stopped by some training grounds in Chicago. He knew it was time for pastures new, and as serendipity would have it, a conversation with a friend altered the course of his future. “He said, ‘Hey, have you heard of this place called Leo Burnett?’ He told me they have a bar inside their building,” says John.  

Upon investigating the advertising agency online, he soon realised that it was no joke. “Not that I’m an alcoholic,” he laughs, “but from a cultural standpoint, it seemed like only a pretty neat culture would be up for something like that.” He applied and landed the job to direct CRM strategy and analytics. That’s where he would meet Andrew Swinand for the first time, who is now ITG’s CEO. Maybe it was their military backgrounds or mutual unrelenting work ethic, but they hit it off right away. The pair later started a company together, which later got acquired back into Leo Burnett. “Andrew went back first, then I did, and I was excited to go back because he was there,” John tells me. 

To say he’s been busy between then and now would be an understatement. Not long after his return, he became EVP chief intelligence officer at Leo Burnett, then SVP managing director of analytics and development at Starcom MediaVest Group. This, while also holding the position of VP director of innovation at Arc Worldwide. He’s worked with a multitude of start-ups, ever intrigued by their innovative nature. While VP of product strategy at analytics firm Uptake, the company was named the fastest US startup to reach a $2 billion valuation.
  

Curiousity First

He’s spent much of his adult life conducting experiments in an attempt to answer an everchanging series of ‘what ifs?’. There’s an innate curiosity built into John’s character that makes him a natural fit for a place like ITG. It’s a quality that first struck me when I met Andrew too—one that seems to be the unifying force of ITG’s mission. 

  

Finding the Unique Good

As an interviewer, each question acts as the turn of a different key. The hope is that you unlock the door—the one that swings open to reveal the most passionate part of a person. With John, it’s about people. 

When I ask him how he’ll measure the success of his job in a year’s time, he doesn’t talk about data points; there’s no reference to graphs or stats. Instead, he tells me what he hopes to get from his team. “I want to find out what people are excited about. What makes them lean in? What they are really good at. In what areas are they passionate? And most importantly, what are they uniquely good at in the world?” John believes with his entire chest that when you find those things, then align them with a business vision, that’s how true value is delivered to clients. “If we start there, setting up the right systems with the right people, everything else will follow.” 

John says you can’t direct people into the delivery of something great; it has to come from within—a place of inspiration, excitement, and, of course, curiosity. “I want to build lanes and zones of inspiration. But it’s also vital to remove obstacles. That comes from establishing cadence.” John tells me that when setting out to solve big problems, the approach is often too broad, with goals set too expansively. “I want to take all of that aspirational stuff and find a 30-day subset of that problem, enabling us to deliver something of value within that timeframe.”

When it comes to his working legacy, John hopes it will be unleashing what he calls 'superstars' within ITG. “People who are getting client wins, owning that space, and feeling like they are experts in the field. If there are superstars, everyone will win.” 

It's about solving the puzzle, one piece at a time.