Loni Stark is a self-professed foodie, adventure travel seeker and passionate about technology’s impact on business and creativity. It’s been said her laugh can be heard from San Jose all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. She makes no claims to super powers, although sushi is definitely her Kryptonite.

Between busy travel schedules across the US, Napa and global destinations such as Australia, the Baja and Europe, she expends the rest of her energy collecting wines, practicing “escape artist”-style cooking, and building what she hopes one day will be a real estate empire. She catches her breath by writing about her adventures here on Stark Insider.

Loni is also director, product and industry marketing at Adobe. In her role, Loni oversees global product positioning, and go-to-market strategy and operations for Adobe’s web experience management business.

With over 14 years of experience, Loni is a leading expert on how organizations build relevant brands and drive sustained revenue growth through innovation. Loni is passionate about how technology impacts business and creativity.

Stark Insider

Stark Insider was born from the shared interests of Loni and her husband Clinton Stark for technology, theatre, wine and food–all things west coast®.

Launched in 2009, the website has steadily grown to half a million readers a year and will reach over 1 million YouTube video channel views in 2013. Stark Insider is one of the top three authorities for Bay Area theater along with San Francisco Chronicle and the Mercury News.

Loni has interviewed creative thinkers and doers such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mad Men actor Vincent Kartheiser, singer/songwriter Brian McKnight, and Clos Pegase wine Proprietor Jan Shrem. She is always up to the challenge to try something new including doing flips on the set of Cavalia or climbing a rock wall with a cast member of Cirque du Soleil. She holds great pride that one of her Loni’s California Kitchen recipes, “Easy as Pie Apple Pie” garnered a mention on Huffington Post.

Stark Insider provides an original, first-hand perspective on technology and culture that’s approachable by making it “twice as fun and only half as smart.”

Adobe

Loni Stark is director, product & industry marketing at Adobe. In her role, Loni oversees global product positioning, and go-to-market strategy and operations for Adobe’s web experience management business.

Under Loni’s guidance at Adobe, her team has achieved high double-digit revenue growth over the last two years after the $240M acquisition of Day Software and established the solution as a key pillar in Adobe’s $1B+ digital marketing business. The solution, Adobe Experience Manager, has helped hundreds of brands–including Hyatt, GM, and Travelocity–transform their online presence and is recognized as a leader by analysts including Gartner and Forrester.

Education

Loni credits her early education to her parents who always had the basement brimming with art supplies and widgets that she could use to create and experiment. Admittedly, she did almost clog up the entire plumbing of her childhood home with plaster of paris when the mold she built had a leak. Thank goodness for the invention of p-traps.

She holds a Masters in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University, and studied innovation leadership at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Loni earned her Bachelors in Arts & Science, with a major in Computer Science and minor in Economics from McMaster University on a full scholarship.

No matter what new adventures and goals she tackles, she hopes that her sights never outstrip her abilities and to always remember to “deliver substance with style…order matters.”

Fun Facts

• Her arcane Chinese name means “where the sky Gods keep their books”—most girls names at the time meant “beauty” or “grace”. It was only later in life when she recognized the wisdom of her parent’s decision.
• She once entered a beauty pageant “just to prove she could” and to the surprise of everyone (especially herself), was crowned Miss Global Petite, Second Runner Up.
• If she had more time, she would want to paint more.

If there are parallel universes, she hopes to be:

• A proprietor of a winery
• A master oil painter and sculptor

Follow Loni @lonistark

“Lucie Stern Through the Looking Glass” by Loni Stark