man on a mission:
Most people go through life lost, disengaged, and unhappy at work - I'm on a mission to solve that.
John spent 10 years as the founder of Axxis Audio, an electronics company that grew to multi-million dollar sales, which he sold in 2012. At that time, John funneled his earnings into the creation of an Internet of Things company, but numerous factors lead to its demise after 2 hard fought years. At 31, John was penny-less, had a baby on the way, and zero job prospects, despite applying to 150 companies. John’s desperate situation led him to take a job at Best Buy for $12 an hour while reinventing himself through the completion of an MBA at the University of Colorado, and a 6-month software development boot camp. After graduation, John landed at American Express as a Senior Product Manager and then left for Amazon in 2017. His journey has led to a deep sense of perspective, humility, and purpose that he draws on to help shape the lives of others.
Professional Experience
Amazon
Senior Product Manager - New Business Innovation, Feb 2019 – Present
Senior Manager of Product Management - Marketplace Product Quality, Mar 2017 – Feb 2019
YouTube
YouTube Content Creator - "Tech Careers for Non-Engineers", Feb 2019 – Present
YouTube Content Creator - "Man on a Mission", January 2017– Present
American Express
Senior Global Product Manager, Jul 2015 – Mar 2017
“John is a natural leader. People are instantly drawn to him and are bought into him. The entire team respects him as a peer as as a leader. John understands business on a high level. When analyzing an issue, he looks at the big picture and figures out the root problem. He is self motivated and learns extremely quickly. ”
“John is one of the most talented people I’ve come across. He has the ability to focus and still see the big picture. He is very creative and still manages to see problems analytically. He really knows how to communicate, inspire, lead and also roll up his sleeves and work hard next to his peers. A truly great person.”
My Education
gSchool, Denver, CO, Certificate of web development, Rails, Ruby, Rspec, Capybara, Bootstrap, CSS, HTML, API Integration, Javascript, SQL
University of Colorado, Boulder / Denver, CO: Masters of Business Administration (MBA), expected graduation July 2015
Fort Lewis College, Durango Colorado, 2005: Bachelor of Arts, Business Marketing
Yamasa Institute, Okazaki Japan, 2002: SILAC (Short Intensive Japanese Language Acquisition Course 12 Week
Universidad Interamericana De Puerto Rico, 2000: Intensive Spanish Language Acquisition Course 12 Week
Western Reserve Academy, Hudson OH, 1999: High School
Family + Personal interests
That’s my wife, Chloe, and our six year old son, Raffa above. We currently live in Denver and enjoy adventuring around the city as well as out in the wild. I am an enthusiastic bike commuter, avid road cyclist, and trail and road runner.