John Wheadon’s experience includes the formation and executive management of the internal venture group at Xerox Corporation. Technology from Xerox’s research activities in the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and centers in Grenoble, France, Cambridge, England, and Toronto, Canada were commercialized by his group. Spin-outs from Xerox R&D include companies in personalized search, electronically re-imageable paper and “zero-footprint” desktop scanning. Other technologies addressed by his group included Wireless MEMS, Optical MEMS and Organic Light Emitting Diodes. John has been actively involved in venture development initiatives since Xerox, and has established relationships with technology leaders in several companies and research institutions, and with a growing base on entrepreneurs. John worked with IBM at the start of his career, where he spent several years in the European Headquarters (Paris, France). There he led the financial evaluation and formation of several joint venture companies throughout Europe in the Value Added Network Services market.
John’s operational experience includes CEO roles with several early stage companies. He has had significant experience in the data communications industry as CEO of two Powerline Communications Companies focused on communications over the distribution grid of Public Utility Companies, and the use of internal electrical wiring for digital home networking applications. This technology is better known today as Broadband over Powerline (BPL). Early in his career, John led significant product and market development activities as CEO of a start-up company developing applications for localized Wi-Fi and RFID, with applications in markets that included retail and tourism. John has had extensive experience as CEO of three application software companies with market applications in information management, advertising agency media management and storage management utilities.
John has held board seats on three of the Xerox spinouts. He has also advised Sandia National Labs, iRise (a builder of Java-based application development tools) and the Center for Media Design at Ball State University on technology commercialization. He has a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Purdue University, applying those skills as a control systems engineer on the Space Shuttle Program. John has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.