John Helm

John works as an analyst and optimizer, specializing in understanding IT capabilities in the context of creating business value. John is currently helping a large private retail financial services firm prepare for an IPO. Prior to this, John was a Distinguished Engineer and Technical Advisor to the CTO at MongoDB. Before this role, John was the Chief Digital Officer at SiteHands.com, in charge of all technology, i.e. development, operations, support, security, and data science.

Prior to Sitehands John worked as the Head of Quality for the London Stock Exchange Group; was the engineering manager of the scrambling compiler group at Polyverse.com; was a co-founder and the CTO of OMNI Retail Group, a startup focused on interactive, goal directed product discovery. Prior to OMNI, John performed consulting via JHelm Associates, LLC. Previously John was the Vice President of Engineering and Chief Technology Officer of Imprev.com, CTO of Drugstore.com, and a founding partner of Umaxon, a company specializing in system and software architecture, design, implementation, testing, and maintenance. Before Umaxon, John had several senior management positions at Merrill Lynch, including Head of Architecture; COO of Global Messaging, Collaboration Services and Directory Services; and Chief Information Architect. While at Merrill Lynch, in 2003 one of John’s Open-Source projects garnered a CIO Magazine “Resourceful 100 Award”; later he was tapped to rebuild and update the company’s global messaging and directory infrastructures following the September 11 terrorist attack. Prior to Merrill Lynch, John has held key technology management positions at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.

Other experience includes a variety of positions in academia and in the nonprofit and public sectors. John was on the faculty of the Department of Applied Physics at Columbia University, a Fellow at the National Academy of Engineering, and the Director of Computer Services at the American Health Foundation, where he responsible for the management of epidemiological databases and bio-statistics software. John has served on the advisory boards for University of Washington Agile and Cloud Computing Certificate Programs; and mentors Technology MBA students from Columbia University, Northeastern University, and Georgetown University. John holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics, a master’s in Nuclear Engineering, and a bachelor’s degree in applied chemistry from Columbia University. Prior to becoming educated, John was commercial lobsterman, a sous chef, and pipefitter. John’s pastimes and interests include sea kayaking, hiking, photography, cooking, philosophy, and theater.