John R. Carlson, MBA ’74

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John R. Carlson, MBA ’74

Most of his professional career, John has been involved with evangelizing new products in the high-tech field. He served as VP of Marketing for Avistar Communications, an early desktop-video communications firm, from 2000 until he retired in 2007. Prior to this, he served as a marketing executive at a number of tech firms, including Raychem, Hewlett Packard, and several start-ups. He focused on building businesses based on new products and technology such as touchscreens, conductive polymers, SaaS, and fiber optics.

John has been an active ACT volunteer as well as an ACT team leader on eight projects. He spends most of his volunteer time supporting environmental organizations. Besides being on the ACT Board, he was on the SBSAA Board from 2012-14.

John earned a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin at Madison before leaving for sunny California. He has four grown children and seven grandchildren.