Jeff Shuey, Kodak director of business development (Annie Laurie Malarkey photo)

Hey, if a person can geek out on SharePoint, you know he’s a true geek. GeekWire’s latest Geek of the Week, Jeff Shuey, focuses on Microsoft’s business collaboration and portal technology in his work as a business development director for Kodak stationed in the Seattle region. Continue reading for his answers to our questionnaire — including an interesting prediction about the future of technology, and a decidedly retro solution to those inevitable online services outages.

Name: Jeff Shuey

Job, hobby and/or other geeky pursuit: I work for Kodak as a Director of Business Development. I focus on the Enterprise Content Management (ECM) space – which over the last few years has been dominated by Microsoft SharePoint. For hobbies I like to wake surf, Stand Up Paddle board (SUP) and ride my mountain bike. As for geeky pursuits – I’m always looking for great ways to shoot video and have created a few custom camera mounts. They are more functional than they are geeky, but I like building them because it puts my engineering degree to work.

Coolest thing about what you do: The best thing about my job and my volunteer efforts are that I get to meet a lot of different people. I really like helping people think through their challenges and to see if we can come up with a solution. Because I have been lucky enough to work with so many people all over the world I’m often able to make the right connections to find or create a solution. From a work perspective I have had the privilege and pleasure of working with customers and partners from all over the globe while trying to figure out new and better ways to apply technology that address business (and often times social) challenges.

What does it mean to you to be a geek? I think the biggest thing for me about being is geek is taking the time to explain technology to others. My ideal vision of a geek is someone that shares what they know. It doesn’t mean everyone needs to understand it to the degree the geek does, but it means they will take the time to try and explain it so that others can get as excited as they are.

Geekiest thing you’ve accomplished, built or worn (photo encouraged): I built my kids a pirate themed playset when we lived in California – with crenulations, a spyglass and a climbing rope ladder. My wife told me my Skull & Crossbones Converse hightops were particularly dorky (not so much geeky). I don’t have many pictures of me because I’m usually behind the camera.

Your best geek tip or trick for managing everyday work and life: My best geek tip is perhaps way too geeky. It’s an Analog Calendar – yes, it’s very retro, but technology (occasionally) fails and having a backup … even a paper based backup can save the day.

Mac, Windows or Linux? Windows, but I used to be a Unix SysAdmin so I am very comfortable with Linux and kernel level thinking.

Kirk, Picard, Janeway or Sisko? Kirk and Picard. My dad watched the original Star Trek series and got me hooked on science and technology when I was a kid. I liked Start Trek TNG too.

Transporter, Time Machine or Cloak of Invisibility? It’s got to be a Time Machine. Because a Time Machine includes the capabilities of a Transporter.

If someone gave me $1 million to launch a startup, I would … think about putting a few of my ideas into play. Specifically around the areas of Content Management & Location Based Services and how they need to be tied together with Privacy & Preference Settings.

I once waited in line for … the original Star Wars – I think we saw it three times in a row. Sadly, I around the same time I also waited in line to see Earthquake. Yes, that incredible piece of filmography starring Charlton Heston and so many other stars of the day.

Your geek role models: One of my favorite geeks is Richard Feynman. As mentioned above … he was able to explain technology to the masses (notably the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster). Another is James Randi. He is a skeptic. I think every geek needs a healthy dose of skepticism — which should be closely tied to an mind that is open to endless possibilities.

Greatest Game In History: Monopoly – it’s a classic game of chance and capitalism. Just like life.

Best Gadget Ever: I think the best gadget to come along so far is the mobile phone. A mobile phone has allowed people to take their information with them wherever they go and because of internet connectivity they can discover new things along the way. Some might say the opposite is true, but I don’t think so.

First computer: Apple IIe. Then we upgraded to an IBM XT with 10Mb (yes, megabyte) Bernoulli drives.

Current phone: Sadly, it’s a Blackberry Bold. It’s work issued. For work related stuff it gets the job done, but for reading, communicating and generally getting things done it’s not the best tool out there.

Favorite app: That’s easy … TripIt. I travel a lot for my job and this is THE App to keep things all in one place. Simply awesome.

Favorite hangout: The Slip in Kirkland … the best Peanut Butter Bacon Burgers. (Other than that) it’s a toss-up between home and spending time with the family and Soaring Eagle Park while spending time with my mountain bike and dog Ellie. [Note: Status of The Slip corrected since original post. – ed.]

Favorite cause: ChrisElliottFund.org – They are committed to advocacy, awareness and research on brain cancer. Coincidentally May is Brain Cancer awareness month.

Most important technology of 2011: Broadband / Wireless internet. High speed access to data while at home or work allows and enables people to do more, see more, be more. Wireless internet allows our mobile devices (which, in my opinion, includes our vehicles) to have access to our location, and in the not too distant future our preferences, which will enable Enhanced Location Based Search.

Most important technology of 2015: AR – Augmented Reality will become pervasive. I don’t think it will quite as immersive as the Holodeck on Star Trek, but that will come in future iterations.

Words of advice for your fellow geeks: Keep innovating. The best is yet to come.

Site: AIIM Capture Experts Blog Kodak Grow Your BizPersonal BlogTwitter: @jshuey

Geek of the Week is a regular feature profiling the characters of the Pacific Northwest technology community. See the Geek of the Week archive for more.

Do you or someone you know deserve this distinguished honor? Email us at tips@geekwire.com.

[Geek of the Week photography by Annie Laurie Malarkey, annielaurie@geekwire.com]

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