About John

John is regarded as one of the more successful serial entrepreneurs in the Australian IT market.

After graduating with an honours degree in Electrical Engineering, John spent his first four years in the building and mining industries before moving into the Australian IT industry in 1992.

John’s passion for working in the technology industry was evident immediately. Whilst still working in the IT industry, John undertook several post graduate courses part time. In  1993 John completed a Masters of Business Administration (MBA), and then in 1994 completed a Diploma of Company Directorship.

Equipped with these skills, John was one of the initial founders of three regional Cable Pay TV companies in 1994. However, John left these interests behind in order to start his own IT company, Balanced IT Services, in 1995. Balanced IT Services became known as one of the Australian IT success stories.

Balanced IT Services doubled in size each consecutive year until it was successfully sold to Solution 6 in 2001. At that point in time, Balanced IT Services employed 60+ people and had revenues in excess of $25Million. Between 1995 and 2001, Balanced IT Services enjoyed a number of key milestones such as

  1. Winning the award for the “Best IT company in NSW” at the annual small business awards in 1999 and again in 2000.
  2. Being noted as the fourth fastest growing company in Australia in 2000.
  3. Achieving the status of “Small Business Community Award” for its extensive community work with Wesley Mission Charity

In 1999, John also founded three internet start up companies. Two of these start ups were

  1. FreeIsp Ltd – FreeIsp achieved $2Million in venture capital funding in 1999, and was due to be listed on the Australian stock exchange in June 2001. However, due to the dot com burst, the float did not go ahead, with the remaining venture capital being returned to the shareholders.
  2. Licensing.com – This company achieved $1.1Million of turnover in its first year, before being sold with Balanced IT to Solution 6 in 2001.

After the sale of Balanced IT Services, John has re focussed his efforts in the convergence of technologies in the healthcare sector, as well as security and mobility, especially in the emrging market of BYOD devices. These efforts are highlighted by

  • The Ethan Group – John is a director at Ethan Group
  • Openmark- John is the founder of Openmark. Openmark sources leading technology from around the globe and has brought this technology to Australia.

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