About Todd

Todd Margolis is a product strategist, researcher, and artist who has spent over two decades navigating the "uncomfortable in-betweens" of emerging technology. His career is defined by a unique ability to translate "blue sky" academic inquiry into scalable, market-ready realities. By synthesizing the rigor of computer science with the speculative capacity of new media art, he helps organizations and audiences grasp the layered infrastructures that shape our world.

The Engineering of Experience

Todd's trajectory began at the bleeding edge of visualization research. As a grad student and then Visiting Research Programmer at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL), he co-invented the Varrier™ auto-stereoscopic display—a pioneering barrier-strip system that enabled high-resolution Virtual Reality without the need for glasses. This early work in modeling sub-pixel rendering algorithms established the foundation of his practice: removing the friction between the user and the data.

He expanded this expertise as the Technical Director of the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts (CRCA) at UCSD. There, he spearheaded the design and architecture of a 10,000 sq. ft. research facility, managing labs dedicated to spatialized audio, motion capture, and immersive environments. He served as a bridge between diverse disciplines, leading interdisciplinary teams to build "discovery platforms" for massive datasets ranging from metagenomics to cultural analytics.

From Telepresence to Product Strategy

What distinguishes Todd's approach to product management is his background in high-stakes, real-time media systems. Projects like CineGrid—where he successfully executed the world's first tri-continental premiere of 4K feature-length media via optical networks (FILE 2009) and his work in Telepresence Performance (ResoNations) required more than just creative vision; they demanded rigorous logistical planning, latency management, and fault-tolerant network architecture.

This experience in Distributed Cinema and networked collaboration directly informs his data-driven approach to product leadership. He views the future of enterprise software not merely as code, but as a collaborative environment where human intuition and agentic logic must coexist.

Applied Research & Innovation Leadership

As Sr. Director of Applied Research & Emerging Technologies at Qlik, Todd accelerated the long-term roadmap for enterprise intelligence. He led a team of machine learning engineers to define the strategy for Generative AI, moving beyond the hype to develop capabilities and products that are ethical, scalable, and genuinely useful.

His current artistic focus, Observables, continues this inquiry. Through projects like Horizons (a stereoscopic intervention into space data) and Now & Then (temporaral astrophotography compositions), he continues to materialize the invisible, proving that the tools of rigorous research and the instruments of artistic expression are one and the same.