As of June 2014, Jon has joined the Springest team to help grow Springest Go and forging Global Partnerships. We’re really excited to have him on board, as his international outlook and positive energy will take Springest towards exciting horizons.
Jon will be focusing on developing new business opportunities for Springest and ultimately for our learning institutions.
Jon was born on Rammstein Air Force base as his father was stationed there. With German roots on both sides of his family, Jon was always enamoured with Germany. He ended up doing two student exchanges there, traveled extensively throughout Europe and worked from Germany for several months in 2011. Most recently, the decision to move to the Netherlands was to lead Big Nerd Ranch’s Europe business development efforts. And, then his family fell in love with Amsterdam and decided to stay.
Before coming to Europe he earned entrepreneurial experience in co-founding and running a bicycle shop, No Brakes. His love for bikes is ever present, from running a cycling journal, to honeymooning with his wife in Europe on a tandem…
“wherever your marriage is heading, riding a tandem gets you there faster”
Jon did his undergraduate in German at Georgia State and has a Masters of International Business at GSU’s Robinson College. He also completed a graduate level German to English translation certification from the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Georgia State University. During his college years Jon’s love for cycling and photography became his number one hobby beyond riding. He’s managed to combine these two passions by regularly taking beautiful photos of his cycling exploits on and off the bike.
Jon is looking forward to “make an amazing team more amazing.” His newness to the scene means that he will be able to spot ways Springest can ‘level up’ internally through refined processes and tools.
Finding the right strategic focus for our providers is one of Jon’s biggest challenges. He will use his experience and network to work connecting dots across markets and industries to help both our clients and Springest thrive. Jon is fuelled by “the momentum of developing new business and the joy of learning every day.”
