John Wilson is an advisor experienced across science, tech and government. He is a Senior Fellow with the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, studying innovation structures in national security. He has contributed to the Institute’s work on mission integration, space systems, the national security innovation base, innovation structures and acquisition for special operations.
Wilson founded and led a DARPA-funded consortium on advanced EV technologies which became the Center for Transportation and the Environment. He founded the eMotion venture between Daimler and American Le Mans founder Donald Panoz to build an electric Smart car for car-sharing. Today he advises Johnson Energy Storage which is developing advanced batteries invented by former Air Force/NASA rocket scientist Lonnie Johnson.
Early in his career he worked on US incentives for renewable energy with two members of Congress and co-chaired a staff group at Congress and OMB on the digital transition of legislative information. He then led advocacy at the Solar Lobby and founded the
Renewable Energy Institute. As director of the Southern Governors Association, he formed a joint Washington office with the Southern Legislative Conference.
In 2012 he became a venture partner with Paladin Capital Group, a global investor in innovative cyber firms. For four years he was Board Advisor and Chief Strategy Officer to a publicly traded SaaS delivery management firm. He also was cofounder/COO of flexible display firm NanoLumens and founding chairman of a social media ratings firm.
He helped launch GigTank, a startup accelerator for Chattanooga’s now 100-Gig fiber network. He co-chairs the Technology Association of Georgia's Top-40 innovative firm competition and has been 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.