Hi, my name is Ammon Haggerty. I'm a fifth-generation Bay Area native, raised at the intersection of technology and transcendence. My father was a celebrated psychedelic rock guitarist in the '60s. My stepfather leads an international Sufi order. My mother is an artist, author and poet exploring feminism in early Islam. I grew up in rooms where people gathered to make music, share meals, and lose themselves in something larger than themselves. These experiences shaped me, my approach to my work, and my relationship with technology.

I've spent the past three decades exploring that question — first as a designer, then as a technologist, eventually as a founder, and always as someone who believes the best innovations amplify what's most human in us.

At Microsoft, working alongside Blaise Agüera y Arcas on the early Cortana and HoloLens teams, I glimpsed AI's potential as something more than automation — as a creative collaborator, an extension of human intent. At Formation, a company I co-founded (later acquired by BCG), I discovered how personalization could transform something as transactional as a loyalty program into genuine relationship-building. Our AI-powered platform came to power programs for Starbucks, United Airlines, and others.

Now I lead AI R&D at Bumble, where my team explores how machine intelligence might remove the obstacles to love and connection. I'm also the architect of Bumble's responsible AI framework — rooted in the community-building principles I learned long before I ever wrote a line of code. I continue advising startups I believe in, including & (and.com), which is pioneering new approaches to data sovereignty and personal AI.

My personal mission is simple: leverage design and innovation to amplify human connection.

Outside of work, I live in Oakland with my wife Laura, an artist, and our two daughters. I still DJ, something I've done since co-founding Mushroom Jazz Mondays with Mark Farina, and the Rhythm Society, a Bay Area community now in its 30th year. I enjoy foraging for gourmet mushrooms, a passion my dad passed along to me. I love analog cameras, my escape from a digital life. I collect vinyl records, a legacy of my years DJing — time capsules of past moment of joy. These aren't hobbies separate from my work. They're all part of the same practice: paying attention, building community, making space for connection.