John Wilson is a tech entrepreneur and investor with broad experience across climate tech and innovation structures. For eight years he helped speed US development of electric-drive systems as founding director of a DARPA-funded consortium on transportation advances now known as the Center for Transportation and the Environment. He was CEO of the eMotion Mobility venture with American Le Mans owner Donald Panoz and Daimler that developed an electric Smart car for car-sharing. And he advises Johnson Energy Storage, which aims to commercialize advanced lithium battery technologies invented by former Air Force/NASA rocket scientist Lonnie Johnson. 

Early in his career he worked for two members of Congress developing incentives for renewable energy. He then helped expand them as Legislative Coordinator with the Solar Lobby and as founder of the Renewable Energy Institute. Wilson also co-chaired a staff group between Congress and the White House to speed the government’s digital transition of legislative and regulatory information. He later founded a Washington office for the Southern Legislative Conference and Southern Governors Association, which he headed for three years.

In 2012 he became a venture partner with Paladin Capital Group, a leading global investor in innovative cyber companies. For four years he was Board Advisor and then Chief Strategy Officer to a publicly traded SaaS delivery management firm. He also cofounded digital display firm NanoLumens and was founding Chairman of social media ratings firm Share Rocket.

In 2011, he helped launch GigTank, a global accelerator for startups on Chattanooga’s Gigabit-fiber network. For over a decade he has co-chaired the Technology Association of Georgia’s Top-40 innovative firm competition and has served as an investor, mentor or judge with Techstars, Georgia Tech’s Flashpoint, NeuroLaunch and CyberLaunch accelerators, Emory University’s Excellerator and Valor Venture’s Startup Runway. He earned his BA in Chemistry from Emory University.