Business Day home
Company Sign Up
Student Sign Up
Company Sponsors
About Business Day
Success Stories
Sponsored Charity
Keynote Speaker
Student Chair
Student Committees
Business Scholarships
Economics Scholarships
Contacts
Faculty Liaison
Business Internships
Career Center
 |
2007 Business Day - Keynote Speaker
STEVE JOHNS Steve brings over twenty
years of experience in the areas of technology, finance, consumer marketing and
entrepreneurship. As a co-founder and head of Corporate & Business Development for
Ardesta, Steve has been responsible for leading the building of the Ardesta portfolio
through venture creation and investment. He currently sits on the Board of Directors
of Micronics, Inc., Sensicast and XCOM Wireless, Inc and led the successful negotiation
and sales of Ion Optics, Inc. and Mesosystems Technologies. Steve is active with the
Chicago Micro and Nanotechnology Community (“CMNC”) and has been invited to
serve on the Motorola Research Visionary Board. Prior to co-founding Ardesta, Steve
was president of MEMS Technology, Inc., the predecessor company to Ardesta. Before starting MEMS
Technology, Inc. Steve served as Senior Vice President of Strategy and New Ventures for
Launch Media (now Yahoo! Music), a digital media company dedicated to creating the premier
internet destination for music. In his role at Launch, Steve was responsible for strategic
planning, mergers & acquisitions and new business start-ups and initiatives. Under
Steve's leadership, Launch acquired several companies and strengthened its strategic
positioning in content, community and offline brand building. Prior to joining Launch,
Steve was the Vice President of Global Business Development for Gateway, Inc. In that
role, Steve was responsible for mergers and acquisitions, strategic equity investments,
and creating new business opportunities. After joining Gateway in 1995, Steve wrote the
business plans for and played a key role in the early development of many of Gateway's
most exciting and successful growth initiatives including the Gateway Country Stores
concept and the Gateway.net ISP service. Steve also developed the original concept and
launched the successful Your:)Ware computer marketing program, winner of Computer
Shopper's 1998 Trendsetter of the Year award. He was responsible for several strategic
business relationships, and was also responsible for leading several acquisitions and
strategic investments. Steve joined Gateway after
spending ten years in PriceWaterhouseCoopers' Financial Advisory Services practice in On the personal front, Steve's wife is also an Augustana alum ('86), and they two children. Business Day Keynote Speaker 2006
|
