About Us

Home for the CoOptimum team is Portland, Oregon USA.

Terry Lewis (a “big-picture” guy, obsessed with optimizing interactions, and focused on sustainability)

I'm currently in Paris, France, where I've come to collaborate with 500+ climate activists during the UN Climate Conference (COP21). Afterwards, I plan to travel through Europe, connecting with still more activists, before heading home.

A short description of some pertinent history:

After receiving my electronics engineering degree in 1968, and certainly not knowing what I know now, I took a job working for a “defense” contractor in California. Outside of the building where I worked, protesters were demonstrating against the weapons of war that we were designing. I got to observe how my colleagues reacted to those protests, which certainly wasn't changing any of their minds.

My own mind, however, was rapidly changing during my 3.5 years at that job. Partly this was due to the friends I was making and their influence on me. Most important were the peer counseling experiences that I began engaging in, which opened my world view and widened my understanding of human beings. The tipping point for me was reading this line in a 1967 poem: “More young men each year choose jail than be drafted.” I made the choice to walk away from that job, and I have never looked back.

I consider quitting that job to be my first activist effort. My activism has continued and grown more involved since then, and I have worked on the usual spectrum of progressive initiatives:

• anti-war
• children's rights and empowerment
• anti-nuclear power
• farmworker rights
• anti-violence against women
• LGBQT rights
• anti-nuclear weapons
• environmental protection
  
  

My participation in these progressive efforts has illuminated for me the challenges of interacting effectively and productively for people with the best of intentions!

In the near future, I hope to share my point of view on how conditioned we have been to compete, yet how we can thrive when we cooperate. But right now I am focused on facilitating self-determined, self-organized interactions. This site is a work-in-progress, and with your help, we'll optimize your interactions. Please consider taking our survey about optimizing interactions.

If you are interested in a cooperative interaction with me, email me, Terry@CoOptimum.org, or 0667901855 in France.
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Nancy Wirsig McClure, Designer

Nancy is principal and founder of Explanagraphics, visual communications consultancy based in Portland, Oregon USA. She helps organizations share their ideas --  creating infographics, user interfaces, explanatory animation, and presentations.

Nancy's 20+ years of experience span design, online B2B marketing, technical communication, thousands of hours using Photoshop and Illustrator, and degrees in Computer Science and Anthropology.

She has presented at national conferences, Ignite events, and local user groups. She's taught college classes and corporate workshops.

Nancy consults on CoOptimum’s communications needs and then applies both left-brain and right-brain skills to storyboarding, design, illustration, and technically-perfect production. The results are the custom visuals and interfaces you see here.