Jason Tennenhouse

BA 1997; MA 2000, Industrial Design
Founder/Executive Director, Greyhouse Coffee and Supply Co.; Founder/Creative Director, GreyMob Idea Accelerator, Director, Campus House
West Lafayette, IN

Jason Tennenhouse considers himself a designer and business strategist, and strives to apply those skills to make our community and the world a little bit better place.

After graduation from Purdue, Tennenhouse went on to work for The Indianapolis Children’s Museum, the largest children’s museum in the world, as an exhibit designer where he created several permanent pieces. While moonlighting, Tennenhouse went on to start two different product design firms of his own. He also worked for a time at a creative Think Tank in Chicago contributing to concepts for hundreds of new toys. Tennenhouse then joined the Research & Development team of a large St. Louis toy company as a leader in concept design. He developed licensed and original products for both boys and girls in multiple play-patterns across all appreciable sectors in the industry, some selling units in the millions internationally through such stores as Target, Wal-mart and Sears. His work has been part of several design and engineering patents and has been published internationally.

Tennenhouse frequently lectures in the undergraduate and graduate Business programs at Purdue, is a guest instructor in the School of Technology, and is a guest instructor and participant in multiple NSF grants in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue. He has also been recruited to be a Fulbright Specialist to India and was the lead-off speaker at TEDx and a recent Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans.

Tennenhouse currently serves on the Public Art Team for the City of West Lafayette, The Quality of Life Council with the Greater Lafayette Chamber, advises multiple student organizations, and is Interim President of the Lafayette Tech incubator. He has helped start dozens of nonprofit initiatives supporting things like local arts and music, literacy, hunger relief locally and abroad, international fair trade, access to clean drinking water, and medical work in the developing world. Tennenhouse has served as relief worker in Mexico and Rwanda, Africa, and has written a book on philosophy and is working on a second.

Tennenhouse played collegiate lacrosse, holds his Advanced SCUBA diving certification, has been an NCAA EMT, a volunteer firefighter with WTFD, a HAZMAT Technician, and is a Department of Homeland Security Incident Commander.

Jason and his wife, Diane, are the proud parents of three girls, including twins.