Whitney Johnson

Whitney Johnson Speaker Biography

Disruptive Innovation Expert, Author, and Business Advisor

Whitney Johnson is an investor, speaker, author, and leading thinker on driving innovation through personal disruption. Johnson is a Founder and Managing Director of Springboard Fund, and co-founder of Rose Park Advisors along with Clayton Christensen where they led the seed round for Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at $2.2 billion.  Having served as president from 2007-2012, Johnson was involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy.  During her tenure, the CAGR of the Fund was 11.98% v. 1.22% for the S&P 500.

Stock Analyst

Previously, Johnson was an Institutional Investor-ranked analyst for eight consecutive years, and was rated by Starmine as a superior stock-picker.  As an equity analyst, Ms. Johnson’s stocks under coverage included America Movil (NYSE: AMX), Televisa (NYSE: TV) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX), which accounted for roughly 40% of Mexico’s stock exchange.

Books

Whitney Johnson’s book, Dare, Dream, Do: Remarkable Things Happen When You Dare to Dream, emerged from a writing foundation cemented after her blog was launched in 2006. Through this vehicle, she exhibits a warm, thoughtful voice with powerful distinctions, while daring people to be their best self, to act out the courage of their convictions. The intrinsic energy of her original writing has spurred frequent invitations to speak at corporations, universities, and to participate as guest mentor/panelist at renowned conferences and forums. Her latest book is Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work.

Harvard Business Review Blog

Her reputation and brand, as well as that of Clay Christensen’s Rose Park Advisors, have been elevated through her prolific blogging for Harvard Business Review and her meaningful Twitter presence. Frequently among the most-read and most-commented on, Whitney’s HBR posts also elicit citations. “Disrupt Yourself” appeared in Harvard Business Review Magazine in 2012, and in 2011, one of her posts was cited as an HBR Editor’s Pick and appeared in “Top 10 Business and Management Blogs” list by Marcus Buckingham.

Accolades

Ms Johnson was named one of Inc. Magazine’s “12 People to Follow on Twitter in 2012,” Business Insider’s “54 Smart Thinkers to Follow” and Huffington Post’s “100 Business, Leadership and Technology People to Follow on Twitter.” She has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fast Company, Forbes and many more high-profile media outlets.

Respected Advisor

The weight of Ms. Johnson’s business impact—having run a successful franchise at Merrill Lynch and launched an investment firm—has been leveraged by CEOs of early-stage start-ups, as well. She has been tapped for Advisory Boards to provide strategic and tactical advice for Shabby Apple, Just Family, Everest and 8020 World; she also serves as a Senior Advisor to the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards in association with the Tribeca Film Festival.

Disruptive Innovation

As an award-winning stock analyst, she honed her influence skills. Similarly, when speaking to corporate, university or organizational audiences, Whitney’s thought-provoking reality checks and persuasive calls-to-action reverberate. With an engaging voice, she intuitively and scholarly cobbles together disparate ideas and facilitates conversations around ‘possibility’ by building a case for dreaming and disrupting. She facilitates small and large groups; she holds the attention of large audiences through her mission to help people—and companies– ‘disrupt themselves’ and build a remarkable and surprising future.

Whitney Johnson’s strength is in picking winners; catalyzing others through her innovation and drive—whether stocks, start-ups or people—she sees and perpetuates the magnificence in others. Her leadership strength is only overshadowed by her quiet humility in that role. She speaks her truth clearly and gently, and lets things fall where they may.