Building a climbing gym in Fort Wayne 🧗🏽 | I own 2 homes but live in a van 🚐 | DM me a dad joke & let's be friends 😂 | Army National Guard 🇺🇸

I remember in grade school I was a loser with no vision or purpose for my life. One day, I met this lady who had pizza outside my middle school. She volunteered her time for an after school program where they created a fun space for kids to be kids. I went to the after school program because, let's be honest, there was pizza.

I finally found a place where I belonged, a place where I could discover who I am. She mentored me. She helped me with my first interview, college applications, and devastating high school break ups. 

She demonstrated intentionality and genuinely wanted what's best for me which is counter cultural. I  had no money to give and nothing to contribute. Yet, she invested in me anyways.

Now I want to give back. I live to equip, encourage, and empower people to reach their potential. I have no expectation of return, only invitation to be better humans.

Edwin Chow, PMP

What do you get when you put a professional soccer play, an architect, TikTok Influencer, Entrepreneur, and Mr. Fort Wayne in a room?

A reminder that Fort Wayne attracts way more talent than people realize.

This panel was intentionally curated to speak to the Best in Class, high school seniors hand-selected by their teachers, principals, and coaches for their leadership, character, and impact.

It was an incredible opportunity to cast vision, share what’s possible here, and show why so many people are choosing to invest into Fort Wayne.

Thank you Greater Fort Wayne Inc. for the invitation and what you're doing for us. 

Thank you to the panelists, Brett Gauger, Sam Casteneda, Janzin Cripe, and Taylor Tropp, AIA Associate — I learned so much from each of you.

And thank you to the students — the future needs your ideas, your talent, and your courage.

Built Fort Wayne's first climbing gym 🧗🏽 | I own 2 homes but live in a van 🚐 | DM me a dad joke & let's be friends 😂 | Army National Guard 🇺🇸

Optum

• Responsible for $TN+ PaaS and SaaS products for Optum Financial
• Building a healthcare payment platform with capabilities ranging from B2B to B2C
• Creating enhanced payment processing including basket capabilities.
• Building lifecycle tools to drive efficiencies and automation across the SDLC.
• Leveraging AI and Microsoft’s semantic kernel to drive self service, reducing call volume by 20%
• Delivering straight through processing to automate virtual card payments to decrease friction and cost.
• Driving solutions to the Cloud to optimize spend and support growth.
• Delivering on an electronic payments and document delivery strategy by reducing check and print volume — eliminating metric tons of paper waste ending up in landfills.

CIO, Optum Payments

• Responsibility for DevOps, IT Operations, Quality Engineering and Technical Product Management for $BN+ PaaS and SaaS Products for Optum Financial
• Successfully launched Optum Pay on the Cloud in Q2’22
• Delivered Quick Pay - Same Day ACH
• Delivered Provider Working Capital
• Delivered Automation Framework
• Delivered CI/CD for Legacy Apps
• Transformed organization toward a Product-led model
• Continued evolution of Agile Journey
• Completed merger and integration of VPay into Optum
• Reduced lead and cycle times by 18% for ‘22

VP, Software Engineering

SiriusXM

• Held responsibility for the overall technical vision, direction and implementation of the $MM+ Connected Vehicle PaaS and SaaS portfolios as well as associated products and services including IoT Device Protocols and white-labeled Mobile Apps
• Modernized Legacy Billing, Subscription and Payment Systems with Cloud-based API/s, Network Tokenization and support for emerging payment methods including Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo and Zelle
• Directed cross-portfolio development to successfully achieve PCI, SOC2, CCPA and GPDR compliance in order to clear the way for the company to expand into the EU
• Implemented the Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) to eliminate waste and decrease both lead and cycle times
• Delivered In-Vehicle Commerce and Advertising technology including hardware and Android Automotive OS SDKs for OEMs
• Crafted next generation communication protocols for 5G and SAT equipped vehicles
• Upgraded crash detection infrastructure to support E911 and provide critical life-saving information to first responders

Head of Engineering

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

• Uplifted Travel Loyalty Platform to the Cloud and delivered substantial OpEx cost savings
• Delivered a PCI-compliant Secure Card Vault in AWS
• Created a Single Use Credit Card Split Pay Option for Loyalty Redemption and Merchant Payments
• Added ACH as a payment option for purchases and redemptions
• Achieved WCAG 2.0 AA Compliance for the Travel Loyalty Platform
• Spearheaded Next Generation User Experience including VUI for Loyalty Redemption

Executive Director

American Credit Acceptance

• Migrated the organization from Waterfall to Agile and adopted a DevOps model with .NET Core and Docker
• Reduced operational expenses by $400K in FY17 and $1M+ for FY18
• Evangelized microservices and containers to increase scalability and bring features to market faster
• Delivered Azure cloud capability with a hybrid infrastructure model to deliver new technologies such as machine learning
• Mentored developers in order to increase the team’s capabilities and performance
• Delivered PCI SAQ.A compliant Payment Options for Consumers over the Web

Head of Application Development

Alliance Data

• Delivered a highly scalable framework to integrate Map My Fitness with Point-of-Sale system for DICK’S Sporting Goods
• Increased income by $20M in FY15 and increased profit margins by 20% in FY15 and 5% in FY16
• Migrated on-premises infrastructure and software technology to Azure to deliver better performance and scalability
• Created deployment automation to maximize operational effectiveness and eliminate manual work and re-work
• Led an exhaustive effort to provide comprehensive insights into customers for DICK’s Sporting Goods and Canadian Tire
• Built real-time Earn and Burn technology for Canadian Tire Dollars at Canadian Tire stores and fuel locations
• Created real-time loyalty redemption at the Fuel Pump with Split Pay via Single Use Credit Cards

Director, Software Engineering

Avaya

• Transformed a low performing cost center into a high performing profit center with revenues of $100M+ per quarter
• Redesigned the User Experience for Unified Communications to create an immersive and engage experience for customers
• Delivered a technology solution to Bank of America that enabled “virtual” tellers over video using their ATM Network
• Reduced product and technology overlap through signaling and media engine frameworks instead of multiple “copies”
• Managed C-level organizational assessments and balanced scorecards focused on customer satisfaction
• Spearheaded an initiative for measuring feature-level usage across the product line to drive feature development
• Executive escalation point of contact for Citi, AMEX, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, NYSE and Chase

John is a seasoned software engineering executive with over 20 years of experience in leading the development and delivery of world-class products and services in Payments, Fintech, Communications, and IoT. John is currently the CIO of Commercial Payments at Optum, where he is responsible for $BN+ PaaS and SaaS products for Optum Financial. He is also a Master Instructor of Taekwondo, certified by Kukkiwon, the world's leading authority on Taekwondo.

As the CIO of Commercial Payments, John has successfully launched Optum Pay in the Cloud, delivered Same Day ACH, and integrated products and engineering teams from two different acquisitions into Optum. During his tenure, John has transformed the organization toward a product-led model and implemented the Four Disciplines of Execution (4DX) to eliminate waste and decrease lead and cycle times. Whether it be the modernization of legacy billing, subscription, and payment systems or how Optum achieves the next level of DevSecOps and Quality Engineering, John has elevated the game and, with it, first-rate products and services that make healthcare better for everyone.

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