John Quarton: University of Illinois Research Park Site Director-in-Residence
John Quarton's professional background includes 26 years of corporate analyst and managementexperience with General Electric and State Farm working in numerous fields of information technology that included software development, project/program management, strategy development, research and development, administration, organizational change management, communications, training, recruiting, enterprise resource planning, knowledge management, social computing, third party software support, and vendor management.
John managed the information technology research and development activities at the State Farm Research & Development Center in the University of Illinois Research Park from 2006 to 2009. While in this position, he collaborated with students, faculty, researchers, and administrators to raise awareness about State Farm and the company’s research and development opportunities through classroom visits, recruiting events, and project partnerships with the College of Engineering, the College of Business, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Office of Corporate Relations, and numerous student organizations. Approximately 275 students either hired as interns or contracted through class assignments or student consulting organizations completed 165 single and multi-term projects over these three years.
From 2009 to 2011, John served as oversight manager for the State Farm Research & Development Center. He ledthe development and execution of the vision and strategy for the center; built and nurtured relationships with hundreds of students, faculty, researchers, and administrators on campus; oversawrecruiting and hiring activities; and established research engagements. His energy, passion, creativity, and drive helped State Farm grow to become one of the largest employers in Research Park with as many as 200 full-time and part-time employees and associates occupying over 20,000 square feet of leased space.
John is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He joined the University in May 2013 as the Director of both the Hoeft Technology & Management Program and the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership.
In his role as Site Director-in-Residence, John Quarton consults corporations in the Research Park on best practices for running development centers and employing students to assist with research and development. He is a resource for companies and new prospective corporate operations to learn about effectively leveraging a relationship with the University and running operations on campus. John has organized a working group of corporate Site Directors in the Research Park as peer group to share recommendations and discuss opportunities and challenges. To request assistance with John Quarton for your operation, email him at and he will schedule an appointment with your organization.