Dr. Andrew Michael Cohill is an information architect with an educational background in architecture, ergonomics, and computer science. He is the founder and principal of Design Nine, a private consulting firm that specializes in information design, community development, strategic technology planning, and economic development planning.

He was the Director of the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) at Virginia Tech from 1993 to 2002, and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Architecture at Virginia Tech. He teaches courses on community networking and information architecture regularly. He is a widely published writer, and author and co-editor of the popular book about Blacksburg (Community Networks: Lessons learned from Blacksburg, Virginia), now in its second edition. He served as co-chair of the Governor's Task Force on eCommunities for the Commonwealth of Virginia for the duration of the task force (2001-2002). He recently advised Hewlett-Packard on their $15 million dollar Digital Village initiative. He is the technology advisor for Off the PageWorks, an entrepreneurial startup in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Cohill has an international reputation for his efforts in network design for communities. He is a member of the National Advisory Board for Communities of the Future, a national coalition of thinkers and policy makers concerned with the sustainability and health of communities. He is a member of the Association For Community Networks, and is currently serving on the AFCN Board of Directors. He recently completed his second term as President for the AFCN (2000-2002). He is a founding member of the International Community Learning Centers group, and is a member of the International Futures Network. He is working on a new book on communities and technology that will be published in the winter of 2003. He is works as a consultant to communities and is in wide demand as a speaker on technology issues.

Blacksburg has become widely known as the "most wired community in the world." In the fall of 1999, more than 87% of the town's residents were using the Internet, and over 75% of the town's businesses had made the Internet a regular part of their marketing. More than 60% of residents are estimated to have broadband access at home, at work, or at both. Cohill served as Director of the project since July of 1993; he was responsible for the design and development of electronic village services, supervised a research and development group, and managed an operations group that manages the BEV office and administrative services. He also directed the long range planning effort for the group, and served as an advocate for networking in the university and around the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Cohill's work at the BEV became a widely copied model for "connected communities" around the world.Cohill was the architect of the now widely imitated MSAP (Multimedia Services Access Point) concept; Blacksburg was the first community to have a working MSAP. A community MSAP can dramatically improve intra-community network traffic, and positions the community to make full use of broadband connections. Much of Cohill's recent work has been closely connected to economic development. He presents seminars regularly to communities leaders and economic developers on strategies for getting communities connected to the new Information Economy.

He is wide demand as a speaker on futurist issues and technology because of his clear explanations, shrewd insights, and engaging manner. For more information about Cohill's work, send a note to cohill@designnine.org.