A theater kid who spent time tearing computers apart in 1981, John has been a mix of technology and media all his life. After walking away from a full-ride theater arts scholarship, John joined the U.S. Army on an airborne contract with a shot at a Ranger school. Unfortunately, John could not fulfill his commitment due to a training accident and was ETS’ed three years later with an honorable medical discharge. Nevertheless, as an 11B, John believes in “Follow Me,” he went on to be a leader in his respective fields over the next 30+ years of his career.

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, John worked as a Sr. Network Engineer for Evergreen Airlines. John implemented secure encryption and communications with D.O.D., The Pentagon and other agencies in his role. In addition, he facilitated the transportation of mission-critical assets for many missions. Working with many large-scale governmental organizations and solving technical issues that arose from an airline’s operations,

In 2003, John became a solutions architect and the Technology Evangelist for Digital Universe Foundation. He worked with NASA, Environmental Literacy Council, Earth911, Cosmos Studios, Jane Goodall Institute, M.I.T., Boston University, H.A.R.C., and other universities and organizations to create a 3D web browser with a media portal. His team developed a massive taxonomical dataset of information they could overlay onto 3D models. He worked with the blue marble from NASA to visualize 3D scientific data onto a 3D earth with E.S.R.I. tools. His team also built a 3D experience of our solar system with data from NASA and other organizations. He has worked with James Lee Witt, former head of F.E.M.A., to overlay the 3D data of the devastating 2004 tsunami onto a 3D map. They also build 3D climate change models with Dr. Robert Corell of the future ice melt projections in the Arctic.

In 2006 John went on to run his own media lab working with clients, including Intel, Xbox, Warner Bros., GNC, Dicks Sporting Goods, Subway, and many others. His media projects include an interactive virtual world tied into real-world campaigns for H.P. and Toyota. He also led a team of agencies building an 18-month transmedia project for Walmart.

Around 2007, John was asked to teach at Portland State University as an adjunct professor. He led a master’s course in Transmedia and classes in Social Media, New Media, and Advanced Social Media. In addition, John taught an online course for Oregon State University on the Principles of Marketing.

In 2015, John was enticed to build a state-of-the-art studio in Ohio, where he met his future partners at Elevate. After a series of feature films, John returned to Oregon, forming Elevate Labs as the C.T.O. and a Partner. John pushes cross-platform media creation boundaries. Harnessing the power of LIQUID storytelling, John is developing solutions for integrated media platforms that straddle technical and creative workflows for movies, T.V., Digital, Interactive, and Games. In addition, he is working with top entertainment and technology industry leaders to deliver next-generation media solutions.

Elevate developed an incubator model. While the mainstay of the work is within the entertainment industry, Elevate Labs expresses cross-industry applications, the largest of which is PRAXI SPACE. P.R.A.X.I. is an X.R. framework used in vision therapy trials for traumatic brain injury (T.B.I.) and other disabilities using visual recognition and eye tracking. In addition, John and his team use vision therapy and training, medically backed science, for near-field visual data analysis.

Using Liquid Storytelling methodologies and Unity, John and his team create real-time animation for a cross-reality experience that can tie to a larger transmedia narrative. The idea of building the Metaverse has been a recurring theme in John’s career.