John Owen, MPA, is an accomplished program manager with a proven record of securing funding for workforce, community, and regional economic development. Currently he holds the position of Program Manager at Parallax Advanced Research, a private 501(c)3 nonprofit research institute, where he manages efforts to build entrepreneurial and research networks.
Over the last decade, John’s focus has been on building a strong entrepreneurial and commercialization ecosystem in Dayton, Ohio. This led to the creation of the Dayton Tech Guide which eventually became Launch Dayton, a partnership of 20+ entrepreneurial organization committed to building an intentionally inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in Dayton, Ohio. This has transitioned from early stage, grass roots community building and awareness campaigns to the systematic development of programs and resources needed as the community scales.
John’s educational background encompasses a Bachelor of Arts from Baldwin-Wallace College and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Wright State University. In addition, John earned his Certified Nonprofit Professional from the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance, is a certified Innovation Strengths Preference Indicator Certified Practitioner. John is a graduate of Leadership Dayton, a Dayton Business Journal 40 Under 40 winner, and has completed the Stretch Strategic Leaders program.
Beyond his professional endeavors, John worked extensively with TEDxDayton from 2013-2022 in logistics and production committee chair roles and chaired the entire event in 2018 and 2019.
