HuffPost's Greatest Person Of The Day: Alex Hillinger, Founder of Good Chemistry

We're living in a digital world. That's what Seattle's Alex Hillinger, 38, realized one day, not long before losing his marketing job at Suncadia Resorts.

"The Internet and the rise of social media was changing everything, it was tearing down the pillars that marketing and advertising rely on," he said. "It was a really incredible opportunity for new companies to spring up and for small companies to be competitive against big companies."

He took the severance package he received from Suncadia as seed capital and started up Good Chemistry, a social marketing strategy firm that engages the power of the Internet and social media to fuel innovative branding. But Good Chemistry is a new platform for a very old idea -- that interesting, intelligent people are at the heart of any business success.

When he formed the idea for Good Chemistry it was August 2008, during the very depths of the recession. "For me, it seemed like the right time to do it," he said. Good Chemistry taps into what Alex calls "collaborative community oriented sharing." In other words, he was using the power of the Internet to form connections, instantly and over any distance, to pull together creative communities bound together by their shared interests.

The company's work, which is a mixture of digital marketing, partnership development (connecting like-minded entities) and business strategy, has turned a great deal of its focus toward Solar Energy International, a nonprofit promoting the use of solar energy where Alex consulted years before starting Good Chemistry. "As a nonprofit my relationship with them extends beyond business," he said. "It's my belief that renewable energy is the direction our country needs to go in."

Alex has helped bring SEI into the digital age, utilizing the idea behind his latest venture Creative Live, a virtual teaching platform that makes creative education possible over the web, so that they can bring their message to anyone willing to listen. SEI uses the idea behind Creative Live to help teach others how to install solar panels, small-scale wind turbines, and to reach the developing countries that most need to learn energy efficiency programs.

Alex speaks of social media guru Seth Godin as an "inspiration," for his forward-thinking approach to melding creativity with new technologies. After losing his job in the 1.0 world, Alex took the chance to upgrade. "I couldn't do what I do if Web 2.0 didn't exist," he said.

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