Hjalmar Gislason’s CV

Hjalmar “Hjalli” Gislason – CV

Significant other: Margret Dora Ragnarsdottir
Born: 30 January, 1976

(M) +354 860 3800
(E) hjalli@hjalli.com
(W) http://www.hjalli.com/

(Skype) hjallicom

The short version

Hjalmar is a technology enthusiast, entrepreneur and journalist.

Hjalmar is the founder and CEO of DataMarket.

Before starting DataMarket, Hjalmar was Director of Product Development at Iceland Telecom (Síminn), keeping an eye on the evolution in the telecom industry and an eye out for new opportunities for the company.

Hjalmar was one of the founders of the game development company, Lon&Don in 1997. Lon&Don specialized in games for the local market, topping the sales charts in Iceland for several months. In 1998 Lon&Don received a round of VC funding allowing the company to bring its products to the international market.

Consequently Lon&Don was acquired by multimedia company Gagarin in January 1999, where Hjalmar worked as project manager and software architect. Hjalmar was responsible for research and development, leading to the creation of a mobile entertainment division.

In 2000 Hjalmar founded mobile application company Maskina. Funded by several leading Scandinavian VC funds, Maskina developed and sold easy-to-use creation environments for mobile applications to telecom operators world wide.

Hjalmar left Maskina in September 2003 and worked as an independent consultant on various projects for a few months, most notably organizing the Digital Reykjavik conference.

In January 2004, Hjalmar started search company Spurl, that among other things developed one of the first social bookmarking services – Spurl.net – currently hosting more than 10 million bookmarks for over 100 thousand internet users all over the world. Spurl also developed an icelandic search engine – Embla (awarded Iceland’s best web site in 2005), and in a flurry of activity since, Spurl was acquired by directory / yellow pages company Já, a subsidiary of Iceland Telecom.

Working as a journalist since 1997, Hjalmar has written numerous articles for local and international media. He was a contributing editor of PC World – Iceland in the years 1998-2000. Hjalmar does a weekly TV commentary on tech news on local TV channel NFS.

I also maintain my CV and network on LinkedIn

Professional history (last updated early 2008)

	*June. 2006 –*		*Director of Product Development at Iceland Telecom* Keeping an eye on evolution in the telecom industry and an eye out for new opportunities for Iceland Telecom.

	Apr. 2004 - June 2006		*CEO and founder of Spurl.net* Designing and implementing social bookmarking service Spurl.net, local search engine Embla, and managing the company’s operations. Spurl was acquired by directory / yellow pages company Já – a subsidiary of Iceland Telecom – in June 2006.

	Sept. 2003 - Apr. 2004		*Independent – Various projects* Organized the Digital Reykjavik conference for Industria Journalist for Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland) Consultancy work for Viva Technologies Attending the hobbies: Courses in biology and philosophy at The University of Iceland Managing my Wetware blog

	May 2003 - Sept. 2003		*Viva Technologies – Product Manager* Product manager for Viva’s portfolio of mobile content and technology products after Maskina was sold to Viva. Product management involved concepts, design, specifications, marketing material and sales assistance.

	May 2001 - May 2003		*Maskina – Chief Software Architect* Responsible for Maskina’s product strategy, design, specifications and marketing material. Involved in overall management of the company, including funding, sales and planning. Maskina was acquired by Norwegian Viva Technologies in June 2003.

	June 2000 - May 2001		*Maskina – Chief Technology Officer* Founded and kick-started international mobile application company Maskina. Responsible for overall strategy, hiring key personnel, forming the company’s software department and setting up processes. Was heavily involved in the company’s funding process. Moved to the position of Chief Software Architect in May 2001 as the company grew.

	Jan. 1999 - May 2000		*Gagarin – Project manager, R&D* Served as project manager after Lon&Don’s merger with multimedia company Gagarin. Oversaw several large development and consultancy projects and was responsible for all R&D projects within the company. Sold the share in May 2000 and left to found Maskina.

	Sept. 1997 - Oct. 1999		*PC World Iceland / Tölvuheimur – Contributing Editor* Journalist and contributing editor. Author of numerous articles, subjects ranging from local IT industry news and analysis to emerging technologies. Participated in editorial work and translated material from other IDG (PC World’s publisher) publications. Co-editor of a daily webzine for over a year. Translated numerous articles and three “teach-yourself” books from English and Danish.

	Dec. 1996 - Dec. 1998		*Lon & Don – CEO* Founded game development company Lon&Don with three friends. Led development and oversaw business relations. Developed hugely popular puzzle and educational games for the Icelandic market. Lon&Don merged with multimedia company Gagarin in January 1999.

Articles and Book Chapters (last updated March 2004)

	Hjalmar Gislason – BYTE.COM, February 2004		“Reykjavik: Fiber to Every Home“

	Hjalmar Gislason – Broadband Home Central, December 2003		“Fiber To Every Home In Reykjavik“

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), December 2003		“Ljósleiðaravætt samfélag – hvað er svona merkilegt við það?” (“A Fiber -Enabled Society – what’s the big deal?”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), November 2003		“Gömlu gögnin gleymast fljótt” (“Long Time Data Storage”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), October 2003		“Blogglandið Ísland” (“Iceland: Where Everybody Has a Blog”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), June 2000, pp. 50-55		“Ísland: Stafræn Stóriðja?” (“Iceland: Heavy IT Industry?”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), January 2000, pp. 22-23		“Vaxtarbroddar: CCP” (“On the Rise: CCP”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), December 1999		“Vaxtarbroddar: SALT Systems” (“On the Rise: SALT Systems”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), December 1999		“Jeff Pulver: Samskiptagúru til samskiptaeyju” (“Jeff Pulver: A Communication Guru Visits A Communication Island”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), December 1999		“LEGO vélmenni úr smiðju MIT” (“MIT and LEGO Team Up on Robots”)


	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), November 1999, pp. 22-23		“Netið færist nær” (“The Net Closes In”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), November 1999, p. 58		“Vaxtarbroddar: Innn ehf.” (“On the Rise: Innn”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), October 1999		“Vaxtarbroddar: Smartkort” (“On the Rise: Smartkort”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), October 1999		“iPulse frá OZ.COM” (“OZ.COM’s iPulse”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), September 1999		“Vaxtarbroddar: ONNO” (“On the Rise: ONNO”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), September 1999		“Á ofsahraða: Fjarskiptamarkaðurinn” (“At the Speed of Light: A Look at the Icelandic Telecom Market”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), June 1999, pp. 32-33		“Tölvur og Netið á ferð og flugi” (“Access the Net Anywhere”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), May 1999, pp. 56-57		“Jakob Nielsen: Vefsmíðar 101″ (“Jakob Nielsen: Weaving the Web 101″)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), May 1999, p. 12		“Leitaðu á Vefnum” (“Searching the Web”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), April 1999, p. 14		“Árið 2000: Síðustu forvöð” (“Y2K is Coming: Action points”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), December 1998, pp. 26-27		“Langbestu verslunarvefirnir!!!” (“The Best Shopping Sites”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), November 1998, pp. 54-55		“Verðbréfabrask - heima í stofu!” (“Stock Trading on the Internet”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), October 1998, pp. 56-57		“Kímnigáfa tölvutöffara” (“Nerds’ Wierd Sense of Humor”)

	Hjalmar Gislason, Margret Dora Ragnarsdottir – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), September 1998, pp. 54-57		“Á sauðskinnsskóm á upplýsingaöld” (“Old Thinking in the Information Age”)

	Hjalmar Gislason, Margret Dora Ragnarsdottir – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), July/August 1998, pp. 54-56		“Hegðun og framkoma netverja 101″ (“Net Ethics 101″)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), June 1998, pp. 52-53		“Þú getur gert það hvar sem er!” (“You Can Do it Anywhere!”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland), May 1998, pp. 36-37		“Lærðu að kaupa á Netinu” (“How to Shop on the Internet”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World – Iceland), April 1998, p. 36		“Babelsturninn hinn nýji” (“The New Tower of Babel”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World – Iceland), March 1998		“Græjur” (“Gadgets”)

	Hjalmar Gislason, Margret Dora Ragnarsdottir – Tölvuheimur (PC World – Iceland), January/February 1998		“Persónuupplýsingar” (“On-line Personal Information”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Flögð og fögur skinn, art.is 1998, pp. 319-322		“Vélmennin á elliheimilinu Grund” (“The Cyborgs at the Retirement Home”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World – Iceland), December 1997		“Sýndarlíf” (“An Introduction to A-life”)

	Hjalmar Gislason – Tölvuheimur (PC World – Iceland), November 1997, p. 41		“Algjör óreiða - eða hvað?” (“Total Chaos – or What?”)

Presentations (last updated in November 2004)

	Digital Reykjavik Conference November 2003		The Fiber Connected Society – what is the big deal? [Slides: PDF (2.6MB)]

	Islandssimi’s WAP Conference *January 2001*		Wireless entertainment and the possibilities of location based technologies

	Pulver.com’s Presence and Instant Messaging Fall 2000, November 2000		Location and gaming- possibilities, obstacles and the future [Slides: PPT (770k)]

In the Media (last updated March 2004)

	Utvarp Saga -> Talstöðin -> NFS (local radio and TV stations) January 2004 –		“Þriðjudagstæknin” (“Technology on Tuesday”). A weekly talk on emerging technologies and IT news.
	Utvarp Saga (local radio station) - January 2004 – June 2005		“Þriðjudagstæknin” (“Technology on Tuesday”). A by-weekly talk on emerging technologies and IT news.

	ATV.IS (local IT news) – November 29, 2003		“Digital Reykjavik: Fjórða veitan – stafræn gagnaveita inn á hvert heimili” (“Digital Reykjavik: The Fourth Element – a data connection to every home” )

	Ísland í bítið – Stöð 2 (Good Morning Iceland – Channel 2) Interview, November 10, 2003		“Svik og prettir á Netinu” (“Scams and hoaxes on the Internet” )

	Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland) Interview, October 2001		“Hlutverk farsíma að breytast ” (“Cell phones: Not Just Talk Anymore”)

	Tölvuheimur (PC World Iceland) Interview, November 1998, pp. 20-23		“Ég vil enga aumingja í mitt lið!” (“I don’t want any sissies on my team!”)

	News Broadcast Interview - The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, April? 1998		“Persónuupplýsingar á Vefnum” (“On-line Privacy”)

	Punktur.is Interview - Icelandic Channel 2 TV, September? 1997		“Leikjaframleiðandinn Lon & Don” (“Computer Game Company Lon & Don”)

	News Broadcast Interview - The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, June? 1997		“Leikjapakki Lon & Don” (“Icelandic Computer Games from Lon & Don”)