John Quarton

Founded JQ Collaborative LLC to partner with mission-aligned organizations at the intersection of entrepreneurship, education, and community-driven innovation. Drawing on 25+ years in corporate innovation, over a decade leading initiatives in higher education, and a lifelong passion for experiential learning, I help teams turn bold ideas into real-world outcomes—through strategy, storytelling, and cross-sector collaboration. I believe in the power of purpose-driven work—and in building ventures, programs, and spaces that inspire the next generation to lead.

Launched and led the development of The Petrick Idea Center, a $17M interdisciplinary innovation hub that opened in August 2026. Championed hands-on, cross-disciplinary learning and conscience-driven creativity through new programs, partnerships, and spaces that engaged students, faculty, alumni, and community collaborators. Highlights include:
 • Spearheaded vision and design for The Petrick Idea Center—from fundraising and programming to strategic direction and stakeholder alignment 
• Helped launch and direct experiential entrepreneurship initiatives, including Student-Made IWU, the IWU MakerGirl Academy, Titan Makers, seed funding events that supported student ventures, and domestic and international immersion experiences
 • Hosted high school pitch competitions to strengthen IWU’s visibility and pipeline among entrepreneurial educators and students from across the country
 • Forged partnerships across disciplines, industries, and institutions to elevate IWU’s identity as a premier entrepreneurial liberal arts university

Sustained and cultivated internal and external partnership opportunities for the technology, innovation, and entrepreneurial programs within the Office of Disruption and Innovation in Gies College of Business. These opportunities included collaborations and engagements with companies, academic and operational units throughout campus, external academic institutions, student groups, alumni, community organizations, and Illinois faculty and staff.

Collaborated with senior leadership to create and deliver programs in innovation and entrepreneurship in Gies College of Business. Led the execution and implementation of strategic initiatives that included the iVenture Accelerator and EntreCORPS. Served as a key liaison with The Grainger College of Engineering and other participants in the entrepreneurship ecosystem at the University of Illinois. Duties included setting strategy and direction for the Origin Ventures Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership, collaborating closely with faculty and staff in Gies College of Business and other colleges to design and develop new student engagement programs, providing oversight of leaders responsible for delivering student engagement programs, collaborating with innovation and entrepreneurship programs within and outside the University of Illinois, and promoting the overall success, reputation, and quality of innovation and entrepreneurship programs.

Directed the operations of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership (AEL), a campus-wide entity focused on entrepreneurship education supported by Gies College of Business. Duties included working closely with AEL faculty and staff, overseeing student engagement programs that included the iVenture Accelerator, EntreCORPS, and Entrepreneurs Without Borders, collaborating with entrepreneurship programs and centers within and outside the university, and ensuring the overall success, reputation, and quality of the AEL.

Provided strategy and direction for The Hoeft Technology & Management (T&M) Program, a program that bridges the gap between traditional engineering and business education by offering a unique curriculum to a select group of high-potential and high-performing business and engineering undergraduates. The T&M Program is a joint venture between Gies College of Business and The Grainger College of Engineering and works closely with its corporate affiliate partners to develop the best and the brightest students to be tomorrow's leaders in an innovation economy. Program graduates excel in technical, interdisciplinary, and team-based industry environments. The central activity of the program is an undergraduate minor in Technology & Management, which admits a cohort of approximately 65 students each year from a pool of 3-4 times as many applicants. Duties included recruiting and retaining students, creating and delivering co-curricular program activities focused on developing leadership and professional skills, organizing and leading international immersion experiences, managing a board of advisors of corporate affiliates representing companies that are leaders in their industries, ensuring teaching assignments for the courses specific to the minor, managing the budget and relationships with donors, connecting and engaging with the program’s 1,000+ alumni, and ensuring the overall success, reputation, and quality of the program.

Consulted companies in the University of Illinois Research Park on best practices for establishing and operating innovation centers and engaging students to assist with research and development initiatives and projects. Served as a resource for existing companies and prospective tenants to advise them on how to maximize their investment in a Research Park presence and how to manage operations in a university setting.

Oversaw two teams of analysts in the Systems Technology area of the Systems/IT department. One team supported collaboration, social computing, document management, and workflow solutions for the State Farm enterprise. The second team provided stewardship and support of the company's desktop productivity solutions. Additional responsibilities included managing State Farm's relationship with Microsoft and leading State Farm's recruiting efforts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Provided oversight of State Farm's presence of the State Farm Research and Development Center at the University of Illinois Research Park. Major responsibilities included leading the vision and strategy for the Center; building and nurturing relationships with faculty, staff members, and students; overseeing the internship program and recruiting activities; and establishing research engagements with faculty and students.

Upon joining State Farm in 1988, I served for 7 years as a Systems Analyst where I developed and maintained software distribution applications. Major projects I led included a project to develop the vision and strategy to replace the company's software development and distribution systems which earned the team a US Patent and a project to develop and implement the Systems/IT department's strategic planning process. I assumed manager responsibilities in 1997 serving in leadership roles in Systems Technology (2 tours), Business & Information Systems, Data & Information Strategies, and IT Research & Development.

Systems Engineer in the Anti-Submarine Warfare Systems Department in Syracuse, NY