Johnathan Holifield
Described as a “jack of many trades and master of getting things done,” Johnathan is among a select group of U.S. economic development professionals who have successfully launched and led a market-leading Regional Voice of Technology and Innovation. Today, he is co-founder of The America21 Project, a national Inclusive Competitiveness effort to connect underserved communities to regional industry and innovation clusters.
Johnathan’s Innovation Economy leadership includes:
- Convening and leading a unique, 100-day community planning process, with more than 300 volunteers, resulting in the establishment of CincyTechUSA
- Raising $40 million of risk capital, sparking formation of a $250 million network of early-stage investment funds to spur high-growth entrepreneurship
- Providing vision and leadership to create Ohio’s first information technology-based high school – now a national model of turnaround urban education
- Earning citation from the Ohio Governor for Innovation Economy dedication and leadership
Additionally, he’s cultivated partnerships with universities, nonprofits and businesses to obtain over $40 million in grant funding, cash investments and in-kind support for research, commercialization and nurturing a nascent high-growth entrepreneurship ecosystem. He received Ohio gubernatorial appointments to the Midwest Governors’ Association Investments for the Knowledge-based Economy project, co-chairing the Increasing Research Capacity and Accelerating Commercialization team, and to the Ohio House and Senate Joint Legislative Commission on High-Tech Business.
Johnathan is a sought-after public speaker and has presented ideas on innovation and competitiveness to many different audiences – associations, business groups, governmental bodies, schools and nonprofits – ranging in size from small roundtable discussions to audiences of several hundred.
He has written articles for the International Economic Development Council’s The Economic Development Journal and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors’ Journal of Municipal Telecommunications Policy and published commentary in Innovation Quarterly, The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Business Courier, The Cincinnati Post, Crain’s Cleveland Business and The Buffalo News.
Johnathan is also founder of Trim Tab System – a networked advising, consulting and speaking practice that advocates and designs innovative processes to empower people across multiple sectors to achieve exponential impact in their businesses, organizations, communities, and lives. Trim Tab System is all about realizing the desired impact exponentially.
He has used the Trim Tab System throughout his career to contribute meaningful leadership, including winning government, education, business and philanthropic support for major new initiatives; master planning for technology, entrepreneurship and innovation growth and urban green-based revitalization; and designing economic inclusion and community benefits strategies for projects totaling nearly $1.5 billion.
Prior to Trim Tab System and The America21 Project, Johnathan was founding executive director of CincyTechUSA, vice president of New Economy Enterprise, Cincinnati USA Chamber of Commerce and chief executive of Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy and Cleveland Urban League. He is also a former captain of the West Virginia University football team and member of the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals.
Johnathan has served on many different governing and advisory boards, including Bio/Start Bio/Medical Start-Up Center, Greater Cincinnati Venture Association, The Greater Cincinnati Foundation and The University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute. He is a director of the West Virginia University Alumni Association and member of Tau Boulé of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from West Virginia University, a master’s degree in Educational Foundations and law degree from University of Cincinnati, and is a graduate of The University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute.