John graduated from MIT with a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He has 40 years of engineering and design experience in robotic systems, embedded controls, product development and general machine design. For the first 20 years of his career, he was a race engineer designing off-road cars and trucks that competed in the World Rally Championship, the Paris-Dakar Rally Raid series, and the Pikes Peak Hillclimb. His experience in suspension design and tuning led to his co-founding Active Shock LLC which developed semi-active dampers for military and construction equipment that operate in extremely harsh environments. After selling his company he worked as a consultant designing autonomous underwater vehicles.

John enjoys adrenaline fueled sports including skiing, beach volleyball, dirt bikes and track days on his Ducati. He spends his spare time working on various vehicles, building dirt bike trails, house projects and hanging out with his wife and their menagerie. His interest in travel led to trips like backpacking around the world with his wife and driving a Land Rover across Africa.