Mel McGee

CEO & Co-Founder, SkillSpout

Education: Graduate certificate, Gestalt Institute of Cleveland; graduate studies, Cleveland State University; bachelor’s degree, Case Western Reserve University

How I Approach My Day: Exercise and coffee before I touch a screen. Then I check what my AI systems ran overnight and plan the day with my agents, leaning on a skill that surfaces the three things most aligned with my goals so I stay focused on what actually matters. 

Favorite Quote: “Do not fear mistakes. There are none.” — Miles Davis

What Would Surprise Someone to Learn About Me: Right after 9/11, I met futurist Howard Rheingold in the lobby of New York’s Roosevelt Hotel so he could interview me for his book Smart Mobs, wearing a computer I’d built by hand with a heads-up display over one eye, basically Meta glasses two decades early. A Secret Service detail there for a visiting dignitary watched me the whole time, whispering into their sleeves, while I sat there looking like a cyborg from the future. Then, Howard and I walked the city while I used my rig to pull up directions and snap photos — a real novelty at the time.