About Dr. Michael J. Becker

Dr. Michael J. Becker helps people and organizations build trusted relationships across data, identity, AI and knowledge. At Identity Praxis, Inc., that means advising organizations on self-sovereign-identity-principled identity and data management, AI agents and digital twins, and knowledge management; building Praxamark™; and teaching the AI Leadership Program, the 5Cs of Knowledge Management™, and courses through the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and universities.

Early, again and again

The through-line of the career is being early: seeing where connection is going, building it before it is obvious, and then teaching others to use it. More than once, the idea was dismissed as impossible or irrelevant before it became ordinary.

Early careerLived and worked in Japan; sold medical products between Japan and Western Europe, and between the United States and South America.
1990sAt Hewlett-Packard, helped build the test system for the Iridium satellite handset, and custom power-supply test systems.
1997At NuvoMedia, an e-commerce-enabled eBook, the Rocket eBook, a decade before the Kindle.
1999A first public talk, proposing that one day we would exchange every kind of media (images, video, real-time whiteboarding) with live presence, and showing it working live between Telecom Italia and AT&T. Few believed it was possible, or that it mattered.
2004Co-founded iLoop Mobile when business text messaging across U.S. carriers was in its infancy, and built one of the first SaaS platforms to bring multi-aggregator mobile messaging, the mobile web and mobile advertising together.
2005The Mobile Marketing Association’s first paying member and founder of its Academic Outreach Committee, which in 2006 launched The International Journal of Mobile Marketing; later the association’s Vice Chairman and North American Managing Director.
2013Pocket Geek Identity at Assurant, one of the world’s first carrier-grade personal information management systems.
TodayPersonal AI, agents and twins, self-sovereign identity, and knowledge that people own: The Relational Nexus™ and Praxamark™.

Why “Identity” Praxis

Most people hear “identity” and think of authentication: logging in, and who may access what. Dr. Becker takes a broader view. Identity is also your data, your knowledge, your relationships and your agency. Praxis, from the Greek πρᾶξις, is the practice of putting theory into practical application, and Identity Praxis, Inc. exists to put this broader idea of identity into practice.

The Identity & Data Meeting of the Waters framework describes where we are now: at the confluence of traditional, organization-centric approaches to identity, data, knowledge management and agency, and emerging people-centric ones. The two flow side by side, distinct but in the same riverbed, and how they blend will define the relationships between people, organizations and the AI acting for both.

A global view

The work has always crossed borders: study at Sophia University in Tokyo, five years living in Japan, an MBA in international business, and six years in international sales across Western Europe, Israel and the Americas. Business in more than 57 countries, and international business on the syllabus today. That breadth, across international business strategy, marketing, technology and research, comes to every engagement.

Researcher

Doctoral research at Golden Gate University examined what predicts people’s use of personal information management systems. At the Mobile Ecosystem Forum, Dr. Becker chaired the ID & Data Working Group (2021–2024) and oversaw the Global Consumer Trust Study (2018–2023), tracking how people feel about privacy, identity, security and trust across the mobile ecosystem. The research continues in The Relational Nexus™.

Doctoral research · Golden Gate University · 2024

Predicting Personal Information Management Systems Use

Personal information management systems (PIMS) help people control their digital identities and personal data. Dr. Becker built the RAA-Trust Model for PIMS Adoption, from Fishbein and Ajzen’s (2010) reasoned action approach, and tested what leads U.S. adults to intend to use a PIMS, and whether that intention turns into actual use.

Trust matters most. Trust was the strongest predictor of intention to use a PIMS, followed by subjective norms (what the people around us think and do), perceived behavioral control (confidence that we can use it) and attitude.
Intention becomes action. People with high intention to use a PIMS went on to use one at a significantly higher rate.
Trust and influencers, everywhere. Trust and the social media influencer factor were significant for the whole sample and for all 12 cohorts analyzed.
Experience counts. Prior PIMS experience, age, household income, having taken protection steps, and harm from misused data (lost time, emotional distress, damage to reputation) all appeared to shape intention.
Features that draw people in: password managers; identity, credential and data-sharing tools; data-protection utilities; content authenticity and verified-sender signals; and education about identity and personal data.

Becker, M. J. (2024). Predicting personal information management systems use [Doctoral dissertation, Golden Gate University]. SSRN.

Read the dissertation on SSRN →

Builder

Decades of building: the Rocket eBook, one of the world’s first eBooks; all-media rich instant messaging; and a U.S. patent for managing multiple messaging sessions through a graphical user interface. iLoop Mobile (2004–2013), one of the mobile industry’s earliest SaaS marketing platforms, grew through acquisition and a public listing. For a decade (2013–2023), Dr. Becker advised Assurant on identity and personal information management, as product manager for Pocket Geek Identity and, from 2013 to 2017, on its digital advisory board. Identity and personal data ventures have drawn on the same experience for strategy, positioning and commercialization, including support for $40 million in fundraising. Today: Praxamark™, which marks whose words are whose and fills in the citation for whatever you read and watch.

Teacher

Thousands of presentations: keynotes, workshops, podcasts, panels spoken on and moderated, executive briefings and courses, including more than 300 live workshops on AI and knowledge management, more than 300 recorded webinars and 450 media briefings, for audiences of up to 2,000. Dr. Becker is a Hybrid Visiting Professor at DeVry University, teaching international business and marketing; teaches mobile marketing at Cal Poly Pomona and executive education with the Association of National Advertisers; and has taught at National University (2012–2026) and Golden Gate University, where he also serves as a DBA reviewer. Since September 2020: a weekly Tools for Thought meetup on Tinderbox and personal knowledge management.

Also a Lynda.com mobile marketing course, viewed more than a million times (2014–2018), and the books and journal under Books and publications.

“He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. Those who make a meaningful difference do both.”
Dr. Becker’s reworking of George Bernard Shaw (1903), from his teaching philosophy

Books and publications

Mobile Marketing Essentials (co-author; 15th edition, 2026): a textbook and complete online courseware (learning outcomes, assessments and lecture materials) in use at universities today
Doctoral dissertation: Predicting Personal Information Management Systems Use (Golden Gate University, 2024; summary)
Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies (co-author, 2012)
Founder and co-editor, The International Journal of Mobile Marketing (2006–2012), published with the Mobile Marketing Association: the world’s first journal dedicated to mobile marketing (Mobile Marketing Association, 2006)
Mobile Marketing for Dummies (co-author, 2010)
Mobile Internet for Dummies (co-author, 2008)

Mobile marketing, then and now

Mobile is where Dr. Becker learned how relationships between people and organizations scale. At the Mobile Marketing Association: ten years on the board, including as Vice Chairman, and, as North American Managing Director (2010–2013), a turnaround that delivered 31% compound annual growth and made North America the association’s leading profit center. Mobile marketing is still on the syllabus, and students’ work on text messaging, RCS, mobile email and digital twins feeds the research.

Industry leadership

Mobile Ecosystem Forum: Chair, ID & Data Working Group (2021–2024); oversaw the Global Consumer Trust Study (2018–2023)
Mobile Marketing Association: Board Member and Vice Chairman; founder and co-chair of the Academic Outreach Committee (2005–2013); founder and co-editor of The International Journal of Mobile Marketing (2006–2012); North American Managing Director (2010–2013)
Marketing EDGE: Board Member (2012–2018)
Direct Marketing Association: Annual Program Advisory Committee (2008–2013)

Recognition

MyData Thought Leadership Award (2025)
Cal Poly Pomona AI Fast Grant: Customizable AI Integration in Higher Education (2026)
Marketing EDGE Education Leadership Award (2014)
Direct Marketing Educational Foundation Rising Stars Award (2009)
Mobile Marketing Association Outstanding Individual Achievement Award (2007), the same year the Academic Outreach Committee he founded won the MMA’s Overall Excellence award (Mobile Marketing Association, 2007)
ASAE Gold Circle Award (2007)
Frost & Sullivan Award for Key Enabler in the U.S. Premium SMS and Connection Aggregation Space (2007)

Earlier career

Before iLoop: strategic marketing at MettaTech, product marketing for mobile messaging at Ecrio, product and web strategy at NuvoMedia (acquired by Gemstar), and product marketing at Hewlett-Packard, after six years in international sales across Europe, Israel and the Americas.

Education

BS in Business Administration (minor in economics), Saint Mary’s College of California, with study abroad at Sophia University, Tokyo · MBA in International Business, Santa Clara University · DBA, Golden Gate University.

Beyond work

An avid reader, athlete and traveler.