John recently retired from Valmont Industries as Sr. Fellow and is now providing product development and IP consulting services.
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During his 21 years at Valmont, John managed the Agriculture Division’s patent portfolio as well as consulted on new company initiatives and university and research partnerships.
As Vice President of Product Development, he led the team developing the next generation of mechanized irrigation equipment and related technologies. John was also responsible for the development of Valley’s 7000 series and the VFlex Corner products at Valley.
As Vice President of Engineering for Smeal Fire Apparatus, he led the engineering teams across multiple sites developing custom pumpers and aerials for the fire service.
John started his career with General Electric Aviation where he worked as a combustion engineer on the F120, High Speed Civil Transport programs as well as a structural engineer for the Advanced Product Engineering division working on the GE90 115B front fan and bearing support structure.
John has over 30 years’ experience in product development, product management and advanced technology maturation in agriculture and aerospace. He holds a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska and is named on 12 US patents.