Jonathan York is a professor in the Orfalea College of Business at Cal Poly. Prior to joining Cal Poly, he spent the last decade in high tech entrepreneurship, as a serial entrepreneur and as a consultant, investor and board member.
A seasoned executive,, Dr. York has raised over $100M in funding and participated in the financing of over a dozen technology and services companies. He has been on both sides of the venture capital and angel financing equation, as a CEO and recipient of significant investment, and as an active venture investor. His entrepreneurship experience has ranged from business-to-business software to consumer services, biotech and medical device companies, and information services.
In addition to his technology venture background, Jon brings a track record of thirty years of CEO experience in health care, economic development, government, political lobbying, and technology. He designed and now teaches the entrepreneurship course in the Executive MBA Program at Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University.
As an operating CEO, Dr. York has led companies through both rapid growth and difficult times, and knows intimately all aspects of the leadership equation. He was the President and CEO of one of the country’s largest and most aggressive Chambers of Commerce and economic development organizations. Prior to that, Jon served as a CEO for over ten years in the health care sector, running large and complex behavioral healthcare systems, including a mental health and substance abuse chain in inner city Detroit and one of the nation’s largest mental health systems. In 1996, he started and grew a software company through “Web 1.0.” Before forming Jonathan York & Associates, he served as a general partner in an early-stage technology venture capital firm.
He has a B.A. from Yale and Ph.D. in Psychology from Michigan State. He also studied at the London School of Economics and has attended the Aspen Institute program on technology leadership. He now sits on the boards of several private technology companies and has worked on numerous civic boards in areas as diverse as low-income housing and the arts.