John Swanagon's Blog

John Swanagon was born in Denver, Colorado at the Denver Presbyterian Hospital. John was raised in Colorado and Iowa. Much of John’s early years were spent playing baseball, practicing Taekwondo, studying computers, and writing computer software. Throughout John’s life, he has lead rather than followed and approached life with a “play to win or don’t play at all” mentality. During John’s teen years, he built online gaming engines for what would become America Online and got involved with Taekwondo at the Olympic level. Unfortunately, an injury during routine practice would end that journey. Instead, John set his sights on a career in computer software. At 16, John graduated from high school and took a job as a Software Engineer instead of attending the Air Force Academy. At 20, John accepted a job as a Consultant with Lucent Technologies and lead the creation of a Global Alliance between Lucent and Siebel Systems. The alliance created a brand new set of products and services, lead to a story on MSNBC, and selection for the “MVP of the Year” award. At 22, Lucent Technologies spun off the Enterprise Networks Group, to which John was a member, to create Avaya. At 23, John moved to Highlands Ranch, Colorado and joined Avaya Labs, formerly Bell Labs. At 25, John graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors Degree in Business. Today, John continues to work for Avaya and is planning a move to Bend, OR in late 2010 or early 2011.