Tell us about yourself.

My name is John Richard Johnson III. I’m from a small southern city called Hammond. After high school I joined the Air National Guard as a 2E1X3 in ground radio communications. I lived and worked for a number of small organizations in Louisiana. Then I was offered an opportunity to work in Colorado designing some of the disaster response systems that I used in the military. So in January of 2009 I packed up and left for Colorado. While in Colorado I met my now wife Rachael Lynn; we got married in June of 2011. The company that initially moved me to Colorado closed down and I then went to work for the Forest service, working on their radio system.

What inspired you to create Invoke Technology?

Rachael is in education and we were talking about all that is missing from our system. I began talking about all the things we could do with technology and I decided that since no one was doing what we needed, I would. Invoke is about meeting needs while thinking outside the box. The word invoke has a few meanings such as to petition for help or support. I’m a little on the dramatic side so when I hear it in my mind I use the definition to call forth by incantation, to conjure. We allow our customer to call forth technology and we will make it work for them not them work for it. Our motto is making technology accessible and that’s what we want to do.

I’m a Staff Sergeant in the Colorado Air National Guard and I’m currently attending Colorado State University pursuing a degree in business administration, concentrating in project management.

What are your goals for Invoke Technology? Any new projects in the works?

I want Invoke to become a test bed for new technologies. We will take ideas and find partial ways that people can use them. A good idea that no one can use is useless. Many times what something is intended for isn’t how it is ultimately used and we will focus on finding that ultimate last use.

We currently have two projects in the works, one named, the other not. DESC or Defining Education through Student Computing builds on the needs that my wife and I know that the education system has. We focused on fixing a number of problems using technology. It increases the amount of time students have with teachers while also giving teachers tools to see where students are on a day-to-day basis rather than rely purely on standardized tests. Check out white paper A New Way To Educate.

The other is a turnkey solution for small to medium businesses. Big box stores are running mom and pop out of town. They can’t compete with the marketing machine that these big box stores have. Using a simple fill in the blank sort of thing we allow mom and pop to open and online store, have active inventory, and give them email and text message marketing. The price is low to start and allows for customization if they want. It gives them a low price entry point to see if this is something they want to invest in.

What are your hobbies?

I’m something of a nerd. I am in to card games, collectable and otherwise. I’ve also taken up wood working and hunting. On my day off I like to go to my shop and work on a project or two. When hanging out with friends I like to play card games like Ascension: Chronicle of the God Slayer, Magic the Gathering, or Lunch Money. I’m generally a low-key person.

One strange fact about you?

I lived 23 years in Louisiana, most of my life, but I have no southern accent at all. Growing up, people would often ask where I was from and had a hard time believing that I grew up in the south my whole life. In Colorado it’s the same: I’m asked why I don’t have an accent to which I have no answer.