John is a proven leader with a stellar track record of building valuable corporate, academic and civic enterprises from concept to reality including biotech companies he launched and took public on NASDAQ such as MediChem Life Sciences and Advanced Life Sciences; and civic organizations including Chicago Innovation Mentors, a consortium of top universities which provides commercialization mentoring to faculty and MATTER, the city's healthcare tech incubator that John cofounded in Chicago's Merchandise Mart. John has successfully raised over $370 million of both private and philanthropic capital to fund the development of these impactful organizations. Prior to Founding Portal Innovations and co-founding Pyxis Oncology, John led the University of Chicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which supports faculty and students through education, venture creation and commercialization of inventions across campus and at three affiliates: Argonne National Laboratory, Fermilab and the Marine Biological Laboratory. In this role he helped establish strategic partnerships including University of Illinois, Army Research Laboratory, Wexford Science & Technology and AbbVie and assisted in raising over $150 million in philanthropic sponsorships including the Duchossois Family Institute and the Polsky Center gifts.John has won numerous awards related to his work in innovation and entrepreneurship including Crain's Who's Who in Business and Crain's Tech 50. He is a member of Governor Rauner's Innovation Council and Mayor Emanuel's ChicagoNEXT tech council.