Advisory Board

John Rafuse

John Rafuse is a unique hybrid of a high-tech visionary and successful businessman. He has advanced knowledge surrounding the human interface into technology and has an extensive track record of solving complex problems, monetizing solutions, and building businesses.
 
As a businessman, John envisions, sells, and produces high-tech commercial products, services, and solutions on behalf of the Fortune 500, all levels of government, and the world’s top brands. His commercial product portfolio has been used by over 100 million people, and he has personally sold over $20 million in high-tech consulting. A pioneer in visualization, the first pre-Y2K company he founded was a virtual reality (VR) company that provided immersion sessions with head-mounted displays (HMDs). John has since worked in executive-level positions, including the role of a publicly reporting CEO. Now virtually based, he solves problems and monetizes solutions for complex endeavors, including his current work to provide business development for the world’s most famous hacker, Kevin Mitnick, to monetize, while solving, rapidly growing global cyber threats.
 
John provided the business development, product vision, solution, and/or assisted with resources for:
 
Example Private Sector Products: America Online – Personal Computer 2.0, America Online – AIM Toolbar, Cisco – Executive Management Dashboard, Compuserve – Internet Explorer Setup Toolkit, eBay (DataUnison) – Market Data Program, Hewlett Packard – Browser Booster, iPhone – Funny 500 Series, Microsoft – Windows Connection Wizard, Microsoft – Winter Fun Pack, Netscape – Netscape Browser 8.x, Netscape – Pointcast 2.0, ShareThis – ShareThis.com Toolbars, and the Windows User Group Network – 101 Greatest Applications.
 
Example Public Sector Solutions: 2010 Olympics Secretariat – Community Chairs Extranet, Attorney General – Enterprise Data Warehouse, Education (Advanced) – Foundations Skills Assessment Reporting, Education (Commission) – Comprehensive Web Services, Elections – Electoral Information System, Forests (Protection) – Dispatch Application, Forests (Research) – Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Data Mart, Geoconnections – Natural Resources Information System, Health (Cancer) – Online Drug Claim Reimbursement System, Health (Engineering) – Data Warehouse, Municipalities – Data Warehouse Strategies, and the Sustainable Resources – Aerial Photography System.
 
As a futurist and realist, he firmly believes that ignorance is the root of the vast majority of problems and the lack of communication is the inhibitor to solving the same problems. Both issues restrict and slow down humanity from evolving into interstellar enlightenment and engagement, and the establishment and continuation of the species are perpetually off-world, which leaves humankind at total risk, being located on a single planet susceptible to any number of global doomsday scenarios. To solve these issues, he strongly predicts and promotes the use of virtual reality, multi-user shared habitats (MUSHs), and full-immersive visualizations of problems and their solutions. People, whatever their position in life, “will believe it when they see it” and feel part of the solution, and therefore, the chances of acceptance and advancement are far greater.
 
John is a Mensan who graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a bachelor of arts, with concentration in film theory and criticism, where he moved the curriculum so that students could create films instead of essays to relay ideas. Earlier, he produced the first high school video yearbook in Canada. Prior to that, he was given advanced education in stop-motion films at an early age and started programming in machine languages at the age of 10.
 
Read his LinkedIn profile. Follow his Twitter feed.