Stephen R. Pratt

Innovator, World Traveler, Family Man, Educator

Early Life

Stephen R. Pratt was born in Peoria, a city in central Illinois that was so demographically average that it was used as a test market for different products. A common phrase was “Will it play in Peoria?”

While his hometown may have been ordinary, his childhood was filled with formative experiences that laid the foundation for who he would later become.

Stephen’s father was an executive at Caterpillar, and his work required the family to move often. When he was three years-old, his family moved to Geneva for two years. They returned to Peoria, and when he was nine years-old, the family moved again – this time, to Tokyo.

While living in Japan, Stephen felt like “the other” for the first time in his life. People would often point at him, ask to feel his blonde hair, and even stop him on the street to take pictures. When he was in sixth grade, Stephen was relieved when his family moved back to Peoria because it meant that he could blend in again. This feeling, however, was short-lived.

Ironically, moving back to the US from Japan was the biggest culture shock he had ever experienced. Stephen found himself, once again, to be “the other” – but instead of pointing and staring, he dealt with bullies and spit wads. Most kids in Peoria rarely met anyone who had lived overseas, and often accused Stephen of lying about living in Japan. Their evidence was that he didn’t “look” Japanese.

As a result, Stephen became comfortable with being uncomfortable. However, he didn’t allow himself to be bullied. When a kid shot a spit wad his way, he would tape together 20 straws, load them up, and shoot 20 back.

While he got an F in conduct for defending himself, Stephen excelled in academics – especially math. In Japan, students studied at their own pace, so when he arrived back in the US, he was two years ahead of his peers. Since he wasn’t being challenged, he was often bored with his schoolwork.

Stephen found himself to be an outsider academically and socially, and didn’t feel the need to seek out a group to define who he was. He developed a strong sense of independence and felt that only he could define himself – which led to a sense of resiliency that has helped him throughout his life.

He may have been independent, but Stephen enjoyed being affiliated with groups. He liked playing sports, such as tennis, and he also joined the Boy Scouts. He became an Eagle Scout within two years and earned 35 merit badges – including canoeing, knot tying, hiking, cooking, and environmental science. Later, he also earned three Eagle Palms and was selected for the Order of the Arrow.

Stephen’s friend group from Scouts extended in high school, and they affectionately called themselves “The Idiots” (and still do). The group included Patrick, Julie, Helen, Craig, Mose, Mary K, Mary U, and Jimmy. They were big fans of good, harmless trouble and played lots of carefully orchestrated pranks. One time in senior year, they took For Sale signs off peoples’ lawns, brought them up to the second floor of their high school, and dropped them down into the school’s garden. While the group enjoyed causing what Stephen calls “good trouble”, they were also like a second family to one another. Together, they have supported each other during life’s tougher moments, including when Jimmy died of AIDS in 1990. They have also experienced life’s joyous moments together, including celebrating Patrick and Julie’s marriage later in life.

Education and Career

Towards the end of high school, Stephen needed to figure out his college plans. As someone who is dyslexic, he was never a strong reader (he listens to many audio books), but math was a subject that always came naturally to him. His parents encouraged him to go to school to become an engineer, and he attended Northwestern University where he received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering.

Faced with an expensive tuition, Stephen joined the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) and received a Navy ROTC Scholarship to pay for his schooling. During his freshman summer, Stephen spent time on a navy ship in the electronic warfare division, which ultimately led to his first real job at Booz Allen Hamilton where he had the opportunity to work in space electronic warfare. Specifically, his job was to protect American satellites from hostile interference.

Stephen was working 12-hour days at Booz Allen Hamilton, while also earning his master’s degree in electrical engineering at George Washington University. It was an exhausting time, and for about a year, he dedicated his life solely to working and studying.

While at Booz Allen Hamilton, Stephen was first introduced to Artificial Intelligence when he used a very early version of Artificial Intelligence systems to help the US Coast Guard identify drug smugglers off the west coast of the US. Unfortunately, at the time, computers were too slow, and AI was expensive to implement. But he put in a pin in it – knowing he was awe struck that computers could learn from data instead of being explicitly programmed with rules. He knew at some point he would want to revisit AI when technology inevitably advanced.

After his time at Booz Allen Hamilton, Stephen moved to California to work at Deloitte where his career began to take off. He started the consulting firm’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) business from scratch and grew that to over $700 million globally. He became the firm’s highest selling partner, and was the only partner to go from partner level one (entry level) to partner level six (the top level partner) within six years.

While at Deloitte, Stephen wanted to solve a common industry problem for clients: make consulting less expensive, while still delivering high value. He saw great potential in tapping into global talent and using global teams, but at the time, nobody wanted to do it. Still, he was determined to pursue his idea.

In 2002, Stephen flew to Bangalore and met with the executives at Infosys – which at the time, was an offshore outsourcing company doing server maintenance and other types of work in India. He shared his idea with them, and they also saw great potential in it. They agreed to fund him to launch Infosys Consulting, where he also served as Founder & CEO. Infosys Consulting disrupted the entire consulting profession and became a major competitive player among the big firms. After its launch, no company could compete unless they were using global delivery teams.

By 2014, technology was rapidly evolving and there was once again a buzz around Machine Learning and AI. This revolutionary technology had been in the back of Stephen’s mind for the past 25 years, and it felt like the right time to explore its possibilities. He left Infosys Consulting, and was hired to lead IBM Global Service’s Watson initiatives worldwide. At the time, Watson was relegated to only text. While it was a very impressive technology, Stephen saw a lot more potential in the numeric analytics part of AI. He also felt it could be used as an innovative tool to help solve world problems.

That’s why 2016, he started Noodle.ai.

Stephen’s vision for Noodle was to create a world without waste, and the company focused on reducing waste in supply chains through better planning and operations. Since its inception, Noodle has made major impacts on the planet and is a model for how AI can be used for good.

Around this time, Stephen also began to reflect on his life’s purpose. He discovered there are three guiding principles that give him meaning. The first is, making a difference in the world. Whether it was using AI to reduce waste, or lifting families in India out of poverty through good jobs, it has always been important to him to create positive change.

His second guiding principle is, encourage the next generation to make a difference in the world. Throughout his career, and even before that in scouting, it has always been his mission to develop the next generation of leaders – and emphasize to them the importance of making the world a better place. He believes that generations have a duty to transfer their knowledge, so the following generation can continue to create change for the better.

His third guiding principle, which came to him a bit later in life, was to love and be loved. Stephen believes that everybody deserves to love and be loved, because it’s ultimately what brings people true happiness. He has been fortunate to live a life where he loves, and is loved, through his family, children, friends, and wife, Jessica.

Cherishing Family

For Stephen, family has always been incredibly important. Growing up, he was close to his parents and his older brother, Bob. Like most brothers, they were like bear cubs that would occasionally tussle, but he has always remained very tight knit with sibling and his parents.

In 1995, Stephen became a parent himself when his son Adam was born. In 1998, his daughter Abby arrived. His family continued to grow when he married his wife Jessica, and welcomed her two children, Roman and Elle, as his stepchildren.

There was one special family member, however, who he had his entire life and never knew existed: his sister, Vicky.

In 2021, he and his brother did a DNA sample through Ancestry.com and were shocked to learn they had a sister, who was about 10 years older than Stephen, living near Chattanooga.

She was born in the 1950s, and Stephen’s parents had her before they were married – which at the time society judged harshly. Stephen’s mother told his aunt she got a job at a lab in Tennessee, so his aunt drove her from Peoria to Chattanooga. There, his mother had Vicky and quietly returned to Peoria – never telling anyone in the family what happened.

When he first met Vicky, he noticed they had a lot of similarities (for instance, they constantly lose things like their keys and wallets!) They also have similar hobbies, like tennis and sailing. Coincidentally, Vicky grew up on a 200-acre ranch, and Stephen has a ranch that’s just over 200 acres. While Stephen and his brother wish they had known her sooner, they were thrilled to reunite with her.

In the summer of 2024, the family had a reunion and welcomed Vicky’s 23 family members – including her six children (who Stephen has over at his ranch), as well their spouses and her grandchildren.

Stephen feels very fortunate to have found his sister, who has revealed an entire branch of his family tree that was hidden for decades.

For Stephen, family is important because it is immutable. His family always has his back, and he always has theirs – which can be very rare to find in life. In a world without sanctuaries, he considers his family to be his shelter from the storm.

Love of the Land

Stephen’s love of the land goes back to his early childhood, when his family went on camping trips in Door County, Wisconsin. As a Boy Scout, he also has fond memories of canoeing near Ely, Minnesota in the boundary waters of Canada – with only a backpack, map, compass, and food that he and his fellow Scouts would cook over the campfire. He loved every minute of it, and always wanted to have a sprawling piece of land to call his own.

In 2016, Stephen fulfilled his dream and bought 10 acres of land in Napa Valley, which included half an acre of grapes. There, he first learned how to grape farm.

In 2021, he decided to purchase a 235-acre property in St. Helena, which is part of Napa County. Ranch À Deux includes 500 olive trees, three acres of grapes, 300 beehives, cattle, and thousands of beautiful oak trees.

À Deux is also the name of his wine, which is a tribute to Adam and Abby. The wine’s tagline, “celebrate love,” is a nod to how he wants his ranch used: a place where people can celebrate love. The label, which features two circles that resemble a wine ring at the base of a glass, also symbolizes two ensō rings – which is an unfinished circle in Japanese culture. This incomplete, imperfect circle represents the fact that nobody’s perfect. People are always developing, and constantly learning.

The ensō ring signifies Stephen’s outlook on life. He’s not a complete ensō ring, and neither is anybody else. He thinks most people are happy-ish, but all face challenges. Some parts of life are easy, while other parts are difficult. In the end, he believes the only option for people is to cherish and appreciate what they have, but also strive for more in both their work and home lives – to make a bigger difference, to prepare the next generation, and to love and be loved.