Born in 1929 in Chicago, John found the Midwest to be fertile ground for nurturing companies and spent his professional career here. He is a proud graduate of the University of Chicago Lab School and Francis W. Parker. In 1951, after graduating from Stanford University with a degree in Economics, he joined Commercial Discount Corporation, a secured lending firm where he rose to Senior Vice President.

John joined Continental Bank in 1964 where he led his division to become the nation's leading secured lender to computer leasing companies. In 1970, John testified before the U.S. Senate as an advocate for the 1970 Bank Holding Company Act Amendment. That year, he founded and became president and CEO of Continental Illinois Venture Corporation (CIVC), one of the early SBIC's in the country. Several years later, he founded Continental Illinois Equity Corporation (CIEC), the leveraged buyout affiliate of CIVC. During Continental Bank's Penn Square struggles in the mid-1980's, John served as a member of a committee of five and helped the FDIC and Federal Reserve architect the sale of the bank's credit card division and London operation.

CIVC and CIEC produced outstanding returns from Hall of Fame companies like Apple Computer, JMB Realty, Wellfleet, Quantum, Lily-Tulip, Masstor Systems, Storage Technology, Shugart and many others. But John is particularly proud of some that have endured the test of time:

Medi-Physics-- a 1970 start-up in radioactive pharmaceuticals sold to Hoffman La Roche. Its products are still used extensively in radiology applications.

Yoplait Yogurt-- a Kalamazoo MI start up that in 1976 brought a French dairy formulation to the US. Sold to General Mills, it remains one of the world's largest and successful yogurt brands.

Filtration Sciences – A Chattanooga, TN company formed in 1825 prior to US incorporation laws. Its products evolved from fine writing papers to industrial filtration papers.

Fetcheimer Brothers –An Ohio uniform company with the best management team (John Hines) ever witnessed. Sold to Berkshire Hathaway and still in operation.

 

John trained and opened the door for a generation of venture capital and private equity professionals who continued their careers beyond CIVC. Sam Guren, Judy Meyer, Paul Wood, Ed Chandler, Jack Tankersley, Skip Cummins, John Tomlin, Larry Lepard, and Seth Pierrepont all benefited from the opportunity working for John and CIVC afforded them.

For those who worked for John, nothing reflects his philosophy and training style more than his essay, Characteristics of an Entrepreneur. In it, John describes the essential qualities of the rare and unique individuals and teams that drive entrepreneurship, the engine of economic growth. Of those, the tenacity that separates the doer from the quitter* was the example John set for all who know and worked with him.

John was active and effective in Chicago based fundraising for Stanford University. He spends his time in California and Chicago with Marjorie, his wife of 43 years, their children and nine grandchildren.

*Characteristics of an Entrepreneur by John L. Hines