User:Michael Carl Jansen

Mr. Jansen is the Chairman and CEO of Cityzenith, an SaaS technology firm providing 5D SMART™ technology solutions to cities and building owners that enable stakeholders to better model, monitor, and manage critical data in real-time through a revolutionary interactive 3D visual model of a city.

Michael is a sought after IoT and Smart Cities industry leader and public speaker with numerous awards and accolades to his credit, and has been featured on CNN, CNBC, and myriads of business, technology, and AEC publications worldwide, including Architectural Record, ENR, Business Week, Domus, Contract Magazine, et. al. In 2007, Michael was awarded Building Design + Construction Magazine's prestigious “40 Under 40” award honoring top CEOs in the AEC industry under the age of 40. As Chief Executive of Cityzenith, he earned the praise of Realcomm in 2011, which honored 5D SMART City™ as the “Top New Technology of 2011 in the Real Estate Industry”. More recently, in November, 2013, Michael accepted an award on behalf of Cityzenith at the World Smart Cities Awards in Barcelona, where 5D SMART City™ was nominated as a finalist in the “Innovative Initiative” category. In April, 2014, Michael was selected to be honored as a World Cities Summit Young Leader at the World Cities Summit in Singapore, in recognition of his contribution to the field of urban livability and sustainability.

Michael Jansen was born on November 30th, 1969, and spent his life as a young man in the Chicago-area suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois. He attended St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights where he graduated Valedictorian in 1987.

From 1987 to 1991, he trained as an architect at Yale and Cambridge, and then began his professional career in China in 1991, where he headed several projects in that booming market until a Fulbright scholarship earned him the chance to study architecture in India in 1994. Mr. Jansen subsequently remained resident in India and in 1996, at the age of 27, established an office for a US-based architectural firm in New Delhi. In 2004, Michael founded and led Satellier, which grew to become the world's leading CAD and BIM workshare solutions provider to AEC firms, real estate companies, and city governments. In 2007, Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, known for its high-profile investments, funded a $10 million infusion to Satellier to accelerate its ambitious growth objectives. The company subsequently grew to employ 500 people across three continents before Mr Jansen left to found Cityzenith.

Mr. Jansen speaks four languages; was educated at Yale and Cambridge; earned a Fulbright Scholarship; studied art and architecture in China and India; has traveled to more than 70 countries; designs high-end, exotic furniture and is an avid guitar player. He is married to Naira Jansen, and has three children, Zain, Jaden, and Kaya.