The American Dream w/ John Tooher

On Episode 5, John Tooher takes a deep dive into transitioning from the corporate world to starting his own business. He also discusses moving from overseas to the United States and some of the challenges that entailed.

John Tooher is the owner of HeadRoom, a successful Business Accelerator and Consultancy Practice with two locations in suburban Philadelphia. As well as leading a center used by more than 100 businesses and start-ups, John applies his considerable experience to helping companies develop medium-term roadmaps to reinvigorate their business or cope with disruption. Through his association with British company Youd-Andrews, he also helps companies such as Salesforce, VMware and Avanade improve their ability to sell to C- level executives.

He began his career in 1986 as a process engineer with General Electric. From 1988 to 1997, he worked for 3M in multiple European countries holding various senior technical and manufacturing management roles. From 1997 to 2002, he worked for a 3M spin-off, Imation and was responsible for European technical, manufacturing and service operations for a number of divisions.

John then moved to the US to take up a roll as President of Yell Adworks Inc. Starting with a workforce of 150 he grew the company to a 3,000-person global 24/7 operation engaged in the production of print and on-line advertising solutions.
John has experienced two major industry transformations in his career: First, the advent of Desk Top Publishing and secondly, the move from traditional print media to online advertising and outreach. This experience has given him tremendous insight into how business cope or otherwise with change.

He holds a B.Sc. in Science from the National University of Ireland and a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from Trinity College in Dublin. John and his wife Kirsten have two adult children and enjoy living in the beautiful countryside of West Chester, Pennsylvania.