User:Nathanup

Nathan Upchurch here. I am currently serving as Director at Large on the 2021 Board of Directors, and I'm a recovering Lasers Area Host and former Scholarships Officer. As Director at Large, my focus is re-vamping the scholarships policy and helping PS1 become a more diverse, welcoming space.

Board Profile:

I started my professional career in a print brokerage in Scotland, where I worked with B2B and B2C client businesses of all sizes to design, specify and deliver unique and technically challenging printed products from ideation to fulfillment, providing better operational and sales outcomes while minimizing expenditure. In a more recent role, I served as Chicago Head of Operations for an international cafe chain, where I opened several Chicago locations, including a commissary / production facility, handling everything from licensing, to purchasing and hiring. In addition, I developed new procedures for the Chicago operation, adapted and implemented procedures from the international business to the Chicago market. I currently work as Director of Design and Innovation for The Chicago Network, a non-profit networking organization for women, dedicated to gender parity in the workplace. In this role, I focus on using design and technology to hone operational processes, reduce reliance on outside vendors / reduce operating costs, and build new tools that better enable the organization to fulfill it's purpose: to empower women to lead. I also own and operate a small graphic design & web development business with my business partner Davey. In addition to my volunteer history at PS:1, I spent about two years as a volunteer instrumental instructor, teaching around a dozen kids from ages ~8 - ~12 how to play Trombone in a brass-band environment. PS1 is incredibly important to me, because I recognize the value of self-education, and the importance of access to the tools and people necessary to learn new skills. I didn't complete any education after the age of seventeen, when I dropped out of school. Everything I know today is learned on the job or self-taught, thanks to the numerous people in my past who gave me the chance to learn. I want to extend that opportunity to others.

I can be reached at: nathan at pumpingstationone.org

Skills / Hobbies / Interests

• Graphic Design
• Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, inDesign, Premier, Animate
• HTML, CSS, JS, React, Svelte, Jekyll
• Arduino
• Raspberry Pi
• Making coasters on the Universal
• Playing classical tenor & bass trombone
• Cooking vegan food
• Commercial food safety
• Sloppily fixing simple electronics