jon hunter

The Early Years

I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona – the middle child with my older brother Daniel and younger sister Shana. My parents Dan and Marge moved to Arizona from Chicago just before I was born.

My earliest years were in south Scottsdale, in a basic condo that provided a simple but fun environment to be a kid. Then at age 7, our family moved to one of our first houses in McCormick Ranch, a new suburb, where I was able to be outside a lot, and ride dirt bikes, fish, skateboard, play soccer and fish golf balls out of lakes.

My Dad was an early computer enthusiast. We had all the early Apple computers to experiment on. I was not great at school; but because both of my parents were teachers (especially my mom made sure) I had the help I needed to get by at Kiva k-8, then onto Saguaro.

High School

In High school I was different because my friends were all in different groups, and as a freshman I was predominantly with my skater friends, who loved music, skating and rebelling. I was skinny and not very athletic, and only played football my freshman year and not very well.

Sophomore year I was not involved in sports at all. I was really in to music and trying to figure out who I was, hanging out with all the headbangers, skaters, and jocks – I had some connection to all the different groups.

As a Junior a friend talked me into trying out for football and I played JV as a Junior but this is where I fell in love with being on a team. My senior year I grew up to 200LBS, played varsity football and wept like a baby when the season finally ended.

University

I went to Northern Arizona University where I had friends playing football, but I went a different route and became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity.

After 2 years I transferred to ASU where I took my studies seriously while working my way through school and earning a JD in
Justice Studies. During this time, I spent a lot of time with my father studying ethics, philosophy and history.

WORK

My first job was as a paperboy when I was 12 years old. Then I had multiple jobs over the years working in hotels, construction, parking cars as a valet. I was always working while going to school. I also worked in South Florida during my junior year in college selling waterbeds, a job that would help me grow as a businessperson.

When I earned my degree I had no idea what to do next as a career. My first “real” job was with Mastering Computers selling Windows training over the phone. I developed a reputation for being good with customers and was getting solid results but could not sit still with the headset on. I was starting to hear I was decent at selling. Then while still living with my parents, I faxed my resume to a company called Computer Associates where I talked my way into an account manager role.

I worked at CA Technologies $4.0B enterprise software company holding many different positions over the next 18 years. I held CSR in Phoenix, Account Rep for Oklahoma, West Texas, Large Account Rep, Account Director, Sales Manager, Regional VP.

Then as Sales Manager under the leadership of Greg Corgan from IBM, I asked to move to NYC for a headquarter rotation job in operations. Then I rotated back to the field as a VP of the Rocky Mountain Region, then SVP GM of the West and then finally SVP GM of the North American business of 2.1B in revenue, 1,400 people, and growing it 10%.

I then went to EVP of Open Text growing it 1B to 1.8B, managing 2,220 people.

Then to SVP BMC technologies 1.2B with a successful exit selling the company to KKR.

Finally, I took over as Chief Revenue Officer of publicly traded Micro Focus, the $4.2 B enterprise software company that was just HP Software merged with several other companies to attempt the world’s most dynamic transformation. I managed 4,200 people globally in the go-to-market functions.

Jon also spent 10 years on the board of Celebrity Fight Night raising millions for Mohamed Ali and his fight against Parkinson’s.

Personal

My family and I make our home in Phoenix, Arizona.

I’ve been happily married to Laurie Hunter for 23 years, and we have four children: Jack who is a dedicated powerlifter and goes to ASU, Jonathan who plays linebacker at NAU, Justin who is a freshman at Miami of Ohio, and Kennedy who is in 8th grade and an avid tennis player, dancer, and everything tech.

I continue studying under the teacher Mack Newton of Newton Fitness who is a 2-Time Taekwondo champion, and legend in the martial arts world, plus fitness training, trainer for the Cardinals, Cowboys, and A’s, for the MLB and NFL and many other accomplishments,

My brother Daniel (my Irish twin – 11 months older ) went to Phillip Exeter Academy, Michigan and Michigan Law School and is a successful hedge fund attorney. My younger sister Shana went to Bowdoin College and then Harvard Business School and is a successful marketing executive. Both live in Brooklyn, NYC.