President and Founder of San Diego based Surf Park Central, the world’s leading resource for surf parks, surf pools and the development of man-made surf destinations. John is also Co-Founder and a Managing Director at Surf Park Solutions. Together, these businesses are leaders in development, consulting and media services to the emerging surf park industry.
In 2013 John and Dr. Jess Ponting of San Diego State University’s Center for Surf Research co-founded Surf Park Summit. The world’s first Surf Park Summit event was held in Laguna Beach, CA in September of 2013 and hosted over 300 invite-only attendees from 30+ countries. Surf Park Summit 2 is currently scheduled for September 7, 2016 at Surf Expo in Orlando, FL.
Previously, he headed up business development and marketing at American Waves Machines, a leading wave technology provider. In his role John worked together primarily with developers and investors in the hotel, resort, entertainment, leisure, waterpark and retail real estate sectors.
Before joining AWM, John worked for a boutique Action Sports Media Agency representing GrindMedia (since acquired by The Enthusiast Network) and various other action & adventure sports media properties including 30+ websites, 20 magazines and numerous events.
Prior to working in the action sports and Surf Park sector John worked in the hospitality and resort industry for over a decade. He held a broad spectrum of roles and positions ranging from Bellman to General Manager under a variety of flags ranging from Holiday Inn and Hilton to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
John earned his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and studied internationally at Bond University on the Gold Coast of Australia. He's active on the advisory board of San Diego Sports Innovators (SDSI) and serves on the Global Committee for Los Angeles Headquarters (LAHQ).
