About

I’m Jon Box.

I have 40 years of technology experience now, but I also still have gas in the tank. As I write this page and reminisce, I note that I’ve had many wonderful career experiences with quality people. My biggest honor though is being married to Tonya, and our raising 3 fantastic sons, who have extended our family - to our delight. God has blessed us!

Resume Opening

A technologist who strives for innovation, business impact, and value derived from technology. His background includes 10 years with Microsoft Corporation, hands-on development and implementation oversight, selling technical solutions and consulting, managing development teams, teaching/writing, and helping others envision technology solutions.

Copilot says

After looking at my LinkedIn recommendations, Microsoft Copilot summarized:

Jon is a multi-talented professional recognized for his blend of business development and technical skills. He’s known for guiding outdated systems to enhanced performance, mentoring developers, and contributing hands-on as a technical expert. A natural evangelist, Jon builds strong customer relationships and advocates tirelessly for their success. His keen insights and reliability make him a sought-after team player and a thought leader. Whether architecting scalable solutions or offering invaluable guidance, Jon’s dedication to continuous learning and his approachable demeanor make him a valued asset wherever he goes.

Copilot says

With 40 years of experience in programming and technology, Jon Box is the opposite of the stereotypical technology introvert. Jon thrives on learning both legacy and new technologies, sharing his knowledge and experiences, and engaging in technical education. Known for his diverse skills in coding, teaching, coaching, architecting, and problem-solving, Jon has made significant contributions to the tech community. He is a former Microsoft MVP, the original founder of the Memphis .NET Users Group, and spent 10 years at Microsoft as an Architect Evangelist and Partner Business Development Manager. Currently, Jon is a consultant and contractor, helping teams achieve their technology goals. All the while, embracing the 2025 season of becoming a grandparent.

Miscellaneous Facts

• My Strengths Finder assessment (top five strengths)

  • Woo Winning others over
  • Adaptability going with the flow
  • Communication find it easy to put their thoughts into words
  • Positivity choose to find the silver lining
  • Belief passionate and uncompromising about core values

• Career Leader assessment – top interests: 1) Application of Technology, 2) Influence through ideas, 3) Managing people. Recommends sales and sales management

Pre-Microsoft (before 2006)

• 1985 - Jim Green gave me my first programming role, where we built custom membership systems in COBOL on the original PC and Novell NetWare networks.

• 1987 - Synchronics, a POS and business software development firm, and I’m working with COBOL again. Thanks to Jamie Burks for lots of help through this season. Led by entrepreneur Jeff Goldstein, Synchronics was later purchased by Radiant Systems.

• 1988 - Fleming Companies, Inc, working in the accounting software department, got my first introduction to dBase and Clipper, as well as a true mainframe environment (more COBOL, assembler, JCL,…). This is where I met another tech influencer, Marshall Dabney.

• 1990 - Quality Companies, Sr. Systems Analyst, (a division of Fleming) in a port from their mainframe applications, we created and maintained systems for warehouse, customer service, and order processing systems (1992-1995) using Clipper. I teamed up with Jerry Dixon for the first time of several employments over the years. Working for Steve Meggers, we did almost everything, from PC and server support, cable pulling, and a lot of coding. A division of Quality still exists today, QIC, thanks to Scott Newman.

• 1995 - 1999, Innovative Communications, Inc (ICI, now Crescent Digital) was another major stepping stone in my career. Led by Rod Kuznicki, I was allowed to go on an R&D journey (moving their proprietary systems from DOS to Windows), that created touchscreen control systems in classrooms and boardrooms, using DCOM, Windows NT4, C++ / ATL (for backend) and VB5 (for front end).

  • Dan Landers was my early teammate there - wicked smart engineer, way smarter than a software guy. One day working on a Windows driver, and the next doing hardware board design…
  • we attended training from Don Box in his DCOM evangelism days, b/c COM is love…IYKYK
  • received consulting from Chris Sells, who helped us with our first DCOM service controlling a VHS player
  • Adrian Anttila joined the DEV team, as his first professional gig
  • Jerry Dixon joined us too - and built a software interface to the TitlRac rack of VHS players and VHS tape robotics. It was really a cool demo…
  • David Alkema also joined the team and got a big intro to DCOM

• 1999-2005 - Solutech / Quilogy, another big milestone in my journey

  • Wade Powell hired me to the Memphis Solutech office.
  • The company was led by Randy Schilling and based in St. Charles
  • after some time a consultant, instructor, and local presenter, I was invited into the Microsoft MVP program, as well as the Microsoft RD program - where I met more great people and big names. This is the timing of .NET’s launch…
  • founded the Memphis .NET Users Group
  • presented .NET programming introductory days at many customer sites (talking and typing and answering questions for a day ain’t easy)
  • part of a special group, Atomic.NET, where we created a custom ASP.NET course. Led by Manish Chandak, the team was comprised of Dan Fox and Dave Wanta and his books. Lots of learning about the web through this season.
  • worked on many great projects, including doing 2 years onsite at Hilton. Built their original mobile website using ASP.NET 1.1 Mobile Controls in 2003
  • also in 2003, authored Building Solutions With the Microsoft .Net Compact Framework, with Dan Fox. This would have never left the building without Dan, and he has his own self-made story with baseball and creating an analytics department for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • .NET Rocks, March 2004, Episode #56, Box and Fox on .NET Rocks!, thanks to Carl Franklin
  • co-authored several whitepapers on the MSDN site, with Dan
  • we were referenced in multiple articles, for example, APR 2004, Add Keyboard Support to Compact Framework Apps by Trapping Windows Messages by Alan Pulliam
  • Technical Reviewer on An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with VB.NET, 2002
  • Technical Reviewer on Beginning Object-Oriented Programming with VB 2005, 2006, 2006
  • presented at multiple Microsoft developer conferences, like TechEd
  • served as a Mobility editor at .NET Developers Journal, 2002-2004 along with Editor Derek Ferguson

Microsoft (2006-2016)

• so many great connections and friends made here. Lots of good managers too:

  • Demetrious Lambrou, Rodney Sloan, Brian Moore, Nick Zimmer, Jacquelyn Crowhurst

• co-author, JAN 2009, Microsoft’s Architecture Journal, Connected Consumer Experience in Automobiles, with Christoph Schittko and Darryl Hogan

• Technical reviewer, NOV 2011, MSDN Magazine, Building HTML5 Applications - Better Web Forms with HTML5 Forms, authored by Brandon Satrom

• Dolly Parton endorses IE8 in 2009, Bing search, working with MSFT John Gilmour and Jacqueline Boyle

• FedEx David Zanca and Bill Gates, Keynote, 2008 Office Developer Conference, src, partnering with MSFT John Mullinax and Chris Bryant

post Microsoft (2017 - present)

• Responsive X

  • in 2020, I worked for ResponsiveX, which is led by Eric Boyd. Got a deep exposure to Azure PaaS. Another huge milestone experience, thanks to Eric and his passion for quality.
  • Also worked with April Rains, Derek Wade, Josiah Clark, and Nathaniel Clark.
  • if you get a chance to work with this team, I highly recommend it.

• American Car Center

  • in 2021, I got to work with CTO Andrew Wylie and CEO Noah Hogan, where we had a goal to build a single website for 68 dealerships.
  • this led to partnering with Floyd DePalma and his company DePalma.IO, who helped create a frontend design specific to ACC. His team also coded the frontend.
  • we also built a local DEV team that created the API and backhouse integration. Thanks to Matthew Kutz and Carl Duncan
  • this story had a bad ending, as Westlake closed the company in early 2023. But, the website was rocking, thanks to a good design and the backing of Azure