Dean's CEO Convocations
Students who attended the Dean’s Convocation at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business on Sept. 27, 2006 ended up getting two speakers for the price of one. A wrong turn had put Bill Child off course and behind schedule. Doug Anderson, the dean of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business , drafted John Johnson, the new head of the Management Information Systems department to speak. Johnson was one of four people who founded FNC, Inc. Last year the company was number 154 on the Inc. 500’s "Fastest Growing Companies" list. In 2005, it had $29 million in sales and employed more than 300 people. Johnson still serves as a Technical Scholar and a member of its board of Directors
FNC drives down costs and streamlines loan processing for the nation’s largest lenders. The company is on its way to realizing its vision of becoming the "Bloomberg of residential real estate," Johnson said. At the convocation, Johnson talked about how his company was created and grew.
While at FNC, Johnson served as chief technology officer and was responsible for directing research and development efforts for the company’s products. He was also responsible for analyzing techniques and technology for future products as well as managing a staff of technical professionals. His achievements and innovations while at FNC include pioneering and directing the development of the first open, financial industry-wide data exchange standard, which allows secure communication of real estate property and valuation data across multiple software and operating systems. He was also the driving force behind the OADI (Open Appraisal Document Interface), which translates to and from the common XML standard he pioneered in conjunction with the Appraisal Institute.
Johnson also recognized the need for non-refutable electronic documents and increased security in online transactions in the financial services industry and beyond. He proposed, and worked closely with FNC’s partner USERTrust Inc. to develop, the Digital Credential™, a technology that provides confidence along the entire online transaction process by ensuring the security of personal identity as well as providing documents and transactions that are non–refutable.
Before launching this venture, Johnson was associate professor of management information systems, School of Business Administration at The University of Mississippi.
He was also assistant professor of economics and finance, School of Business Administration at The University of Mississippi and he was visiting assistant professor of economics, Southern Methodist University.
He graduated from Weber State University in 1983 and got his Ph.D. in Economics from Texas A&M.