Founders
JOHN BAIR
Co-Founder
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Technology Officer
John is the founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Technology Officer of Converge Technologies. Prior to founding Converge, John spent several years founding and developing The Ohio State University’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME) as its executive director. This industry facing applied engineering center was considered a first for universities in the State of Ohio. CDME achieved revenues in excess of $21 million in revenue over its first three years. John also volunteered as the Dean of Engineering’s industry advisory chairman. He donated his time as a business plan competition mentor and I-Corps@Ohio executive advisor. Prior to supporting Ohio State, John co-founded Pinnacle Data Systems, a full product life-cycle, in 1989 as a diversified integrated computer and electronics systems company. The company was responsible for designing, commercializing, manufacturing and supporting technology that integrated into Fortune 100 and 500 OEM product lines. Under his leadership, as president and CEO, he grew the company into a global manufacturer/provider of OEM-integrated product/design solutions and support services focused on the telecom, imaging, defense/aerospace, medical, semiconductor, industrial automation and IT markets. In 1996, John took Pinnacle public through an initial public offering on the Nasdaq-AMEX exchange (Nasdaq: PNS). He served as the President, CEO, CTO and Chief Innovation Officer and as the Chairman of the Board of Directors while overseeing years of company growth. In 2012, John led the company through an acquisition by Avnet, Inc. and served as the Sr. Vice President through 2014. John has a BS in Computer Engineering from Ohio State.
ERIC WAGNER
Co-Founder
Chief Strategy Officer
Eric is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Converge Technologies. Prior to founding Converge, he was associate director for Ohio State’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), an industry facing commercialization center within the university. He also served as program manager for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, managed by CDME for central and southeastern Ohio. He acted as adjunct instructor (3 years) of engineering and physical sciences for the I-Corps@Ohio program. Previously, he worked at Ohio State’s commercialization office where he oversaw the strategic planning and execution activities for engineering innovation. While there he launched innovate industry lead commercial projects and lead the formation and successful launch of over 16 start-ups. Prior to joining Ohio State in 2013, Eric was employed at Southwest Research Institute from 1998 to 2000, where he served as a program manager of large defense research programs. He then joined D&S Consultants, an aerospace and defense commercialization start-up, as the vice president of a newly formed division. Over the next 12 years, he held positions of increasing responsibility from vice president, chief operating officer and culminating with 3.5 years as the president, overseeing annual revenues in excess of $270 million. He was responsible for various corporate operations, but focused on mergers/acquisitions, commercial product development and strategic growth of the company. Eric is a member of the Ohio Technical Angels and an active angel investor in Ohio start-ups. He is an advisor and mentor for SBIR/STTR programs and the Ohio Federal Research Network. He has a BS in Computer Science and an Executive MBA, salutatorian, from The Ohio State University.