Business leader, investor and advisor
John Rollwagen was instrumental in putting Minnesota on the map as a high tech leader.
In the 1970s and 80s, Rollwagen partnered with Seymour Cray to build Cray Research from a start-up operation with less than 100 workers to a highly profitable and internationally respected Fortune 500 company with annual revenues in excess of $800 million and more than 5,000 employees in 21 countries.
At Cray Research, Rollwagen was well known for encouraging creativity and teamwork — it's said that Rollwagen created the workplace that made it possible for Cray to successfully design the world's fastest supercomputers.
Rollwagen has spent the past 20 years as an investor and business advisor specializing in information technology, with a passion for building a stronger Minnesota. His diverse career and community contributions included funding and mentoring start-up ventures, developing a framework for Minnesota's charter schools, serving on non-profit boards for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as serving on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy Negotiations under presidents Reagan and Bush. Rollwagen was a founder of the Minnesota High Tech Association.