John McDonald, Mentor Emeritus
A serial entrepreneur with several successful ventures behind him, John' s most notable ventures include a joint venture with Shell & BF Goodrich in Australia, a Commercial Building Services company sold to fortune 500 company, and an ASP service centre for Commercial Real Estate industry sold to a top tier pension fund.
In each private venture, John has successfully secured the required funding, built the team, executed the vision and created a liquidity event. In retrospect, his personal satisfaction comes more from having left behind sustainable businesses with strong teams, passionate cultures and solid infrastructure than it has from financial rewards.
As an entrepreneur John is comfortable wearing many hats, but his natural tendencies and formal training are deeply rooted in marketing. Having said that, he has a passion around the value creation process, and a deep commitment to technology (particularly a technology that can be paired with a physical service to deliver sustainable uniqueness). The repeating pattern in John's business career has been the ability to dig into a new industry and see where it is heading, to devise innovative strategy for capturing a sustainable niche, and to successfully build value and architect a liquidity event.
John has a proven ability to see through the noise & uncover hidden opportunities, craft and communicate a compelling vision and strategy, build cohesive teams and create cultures of excellence. His personal mission is to generate economic value by actively leading teams through the process of creating an enduring enterprise.
As a leader, John acts according to his personal values: He believes that a culture of trust is the foundation of a successful enterprise, that the value of a business grows fastest when it is closely aligned to customer values, and that no matter how dramatically a business grows, the effort is wasted if the resulting enterprise doesn't last.