Steve Fifita

Senior Vice President, Director of Digital Innovation and Technology

Strategic Property Partners, LLC

Steve currently serves as the Senior Vice President, Director of Digital Innovation and Technology for Strategic Property Partners, LLC ("SPP"). SPP, a Cascade Investment and Jeff Vinik partnership, is a full-service commercial real estate development firm focused on world-class execution, innovation, and creating high quality and experiential places. The firm’s first project, Water Street Tampa, is one of the largest developments in the nation on over 50 acres with $3 billion in private investment adding nine million square feet of new commercial, residential, hospitality, entertainment, cultural, retail, and educational spaces, connected by pedestrian-oriented streets to the city’s urban core.  Working with the top architects and urban designers in the world, Water Street Tampa leads with human-centric urban design to build a community focused on walkability, ubiquitous connectivity, sustainability and wellness to maximize the ‘people’ experience for residents, visitors and employees in the district. Water Street Tampa will be the first Intelligent and Well certified district in the US.

At SPP, Steve oversees all aspects ‘smart city’ strategy and digital solution development including consumer experience, urban mobility, sustainability, smart buildings, IoT sensors, omni-channel digital content, and intelligent infrastructure. He is charged with strategic alliance development across the technology ecosystem from corporations, universities to start-ups covering technology acquisition, co-development and joint ventures.  He leads the interface with local, state, and federal governments specific to public-private partnerships and collaboration. He also serves as SPP’s liaison to the venture and start-up community nationwide.

Prior to his current position, Steve was the Founding Executive Director of City Digital at UI Labs.  UI Labs is a National Innovation Center focused on cross-sector collaboration in digital manufacturing and smart cities across IoT, big data, artificial intelligence, cyber security, and advance computing. Over the course of his career, he has served as a senior executive within the private sector, including positions with Best Buy, Cisco, and Hewlett-Packard, where he led mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and product development.  His efforts were focused on enterprise growth initiatives in the areas of eCommerce, Digital Media, Connected Home/Cars, Wearable Tech, Managed Services, Mobility and Smart/Connected Communities across North America, Western Europe and Asia.

Steve regularly speaks and advise on the topic of the infrastructure, innovation, and technology clusters at both business and academic conferences.  He also advises corporations and governments on cluster development, smart cities and innovation both domestically and abroad. He has also served as the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Board for the Stanford Project on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) and the Stanford Project on Japanese Entrepreneurship (STAJE).