Membership Luncheon

Speaker: John McDonald MANAGING ENTREPRENEUR OF NEXT STUDIOS 

John McDonald has over twenty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur, most recently as the Managing Entrepreneur of NEXT Studios, Indiana’s first Benefit (B) Corporation Innovation Studio. He was the founder and CEO of ClearObject, the fastest-growing technology company in Indiana for 5 years in a row, which successfully exited to private equity in 2019. Prior to that, John served as CEO of Chicago-based startup CloudOne, and also at IBM, where he led technical sales for their software development tools product line.
He is a founder and board member of the Indiana Technology & Innovation Association, a board member of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, of the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center, of TechPoint, and of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. At Purdue University, John is an Instructor for the Certificate Program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a member of the Dean’s Council for the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, and a member of Purdue’s President’s Council and RB Stuart Society.
A graduate of Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis, John studied business management, and computer science before receiving degrees in Software Development and Computer Information Technology from Purdue University at West Lafayette, where he was also the Student Body Vice President and Treasurer. John was named Purdue’s Distinguished Technology Alumnus in 2007 and Lawrence North’s Distinguished Alumnus in 2017.
He also serves as a lay minister at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and has authored two published history books about Indiana.

Caterer: Mayberry Cafe