Cognixion

Designer-turned-neurotech entrepreneur whose career spanned brand management at Citrix, creative direction at Progressive Insurance and Hanson Dodge, and senior design roles at Philips. He co-founded Cognixion (originally Smartstones) in 2013 with Leonard Zerman after his mother's 2012 hospitalisation — in which she could not communicate while intubated — galvanised him to build better augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technology. His Cognixion ONE BCI headset received FDA Breakthrough Device designation. He chairs the California Communications Access Foundation.

Software architect and co-founder of Cognixion, where he serves as CTO. An experienced builder of distributed computing systems across multiple languages, frameworks, and operating systems, Zerman has led Cognixion's technical infrastructure since the company's founding in 2013. He and Forsland built the Smartstones push-button communication device before pivoting to the Cognixion ONE BCI platform. Limited public biographical detail is available beyond his technical leadership role at the company.