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Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Information Technology, Safeguard Scientifics
As Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Information Technology for Safeguard, John Loftus evaluates investment opportunities and provides strategy leadership to Safeguard partner companies. John joined Safeguard in 2001 as Principal. With over twenty years of experience in executive management, entrepreneurship and technology leadership, he has founded, raised capital for or served in senior management positions with companies representing all stages of growth.
Prior to joining Safeguard, John co-founded Gestalt LLC, which focuses on high-end software interoperability architectures. He also served as Senior Vice President with Breakaway Solutions, where he managed all strategy and implementation consulting engagements and directed an organization of nearly 1,000 consultants in the U.S. and Europe. In addition, John was part of the senior management team that took Breakaway Solutions public in October 1999. Prior to Breakaway Solutions, he was the Senior Vice President and CTO of WPL Laboratories, which earned recognition as an INC 500 company. He also held senior executive positions at PECO Energy and spent the first ten years of his career in technology and as a program management executive with General Electric. He has developed and taught graduate level courses at La Salle University and lectured at the University of Pennsylvania.
He has served on the Boards of eMerge Interactive, Gestalt LLC, Mantas, Inc., Agari, Avista Advantage and WPL Laboratories. He is past Chairman of the Computing Advisory Board of La Salle University.
As a seasoned "serial entrepreneur," John has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing young companies experiencing rapid growth. He enjoys working with revenue-stage companies because they are at a point in their evolution where they possess the intellectual property, human capital and capabilities to fuel growth, but are still at a point where Safeguard's operational expertise, business acumen and strategic vision can be applied to make a significant difference. The top challenges facing these companies, according to John, include attracting the talent required to sustain momentum, and maintaining flexibility to adapt and change as the company grows. | 