SocialSphere Web 2.0 Products and Strategy

Founder and Managing Partner                                                                       

As a hands-on Managing Partner, John oversees the day-to-day operations of SocialSphere, while also working closely with clients to develop global Web 2.0 insights and strategy.

For John, starting SocialSphere was the natural evolution of his career as a "serial entrepreneur."  He has spent much of the last 18 years at the intersection of politics, business strategy and technology. He officially entered the world of politics during his junior year of college, when he took on a variety of roles in the 1988 presidential campaign. In the years that followed, he traveled the country, collaborating with well-known pollsters, strategists and candidates over the course of three more presidential campaigns.  Eventually, John moved back to Massachusetts and created his first company which helped mainstream the use of "dial-testing" technology as a tool for political and corporate communications campaigns.  During that time, John's clients included President Clinton, a number of U.S. Senators and the Prime Minister of Greece. His corporate and media clients included Bain & Company, De Beers, Fujitsu, GE, Guinness World Records, H-P, Kodak, Pfizer, United HealthGroup, Princess Cruises and Good Morning America.

In 2000, John partnered with undergraduates from Harvard to launch the Biannual Youth Survey of Politics and Public Service at the Institute of Politics. This survey is now considered one of the seminal pieces of research on this emerging generation. 

John's work is now focused on working closely with clients to help their organizations maximize the global opportunities presented by Web 2.0 and the emerging Millennial generation. He is a regular contributor and analyst for media outlets in the U.S. and abroad and has keynoted a number of major conferences, including medienwoche@IFA in Berlin, Germany, the MassMEDIC Investor's Conference in Boston, the Web 2.0 Kongress in Munich, Germany and the Sungard Summit on Higher Education.  Many of his insights were included in Grown Up Digital, one of 2008's best business books according to the Economist.

In 2007, John was honored to be named an Eisenhower Fellow, for which he traveled extensively throughout China and Korea (including a day in North Korea) to study the impact that Web 2.0 technology is having on the economies, politics and cultures of Asia.  

In addition to his full-time responsibilities at SocialSphere, John also serves as Director of Polling at Harvard University's Institute of Politics and on the Board of Advisors of SchoolPulse, Inc., the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative and his town's youth baseball and softball association.  He recently became a mentor at Year Up, and encourages his friends to do the same.

Personal insights:

John lives outside of Boston with his wife and three children. He enjoys coaching youth sports, including baseball and softball. After his son was seriously injured when he was hit in the face by a line-drive off a metal bat (thankfully, he is now fully recovered), he became a national advocate and spokesperson for encouraging youth baseball leagues and associations to switch to safer metal or wooden bats.