John Werner has created a career out of bringing ideas, networks and people together to generate powerful results.  John is an MIT Senior Fellow, 5x-founder, columnist in AI for Forbes & Managing Director/VC investing in AI. Currently, John serves as Managing Director and Partner at Link Ventures. John is a Visiting Lecturer in MIT AI Venture Studio course fall and spring semesters. Previously, John was a VP at Meta, a Y-Combinator augmented reality startup based in Silicon Valley. John's also served as the Head of Innovation and New Ventures at the MIT Media Lab's Camera Culture Group, and the Managing Director of Emerging Worlds SIG, where he led the launch of collaborative innovation centers in Mumbai, Nashik, and Hyderabad.John channels his passion and curiosity into cultivating platforms for thought and exchange. He is the Founder & CEO of Ideas in Action a non-profit that creates and produces, Imagination in Action, that takes place during the World Economic Forum in Davos and at MIT; TEDxMIT (which was recognized as best event at MIT 2022 & 2023) academic years, and TEDxBoston (formerly known as TEDxBeaconStreet), whose talks have accumulated 300+ million YouTube views.John is also the Co-Founder of Citizen Schools, an advisor for Everquote, Liquid.AI, Brelyon, PhotoButler, Bloomertech, Ubicept, Vestigo Ventures and Founders Forum (Boston), an MIT Connection Science Senior Fellow, a Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and a graduate of Hamilton College. John was recognized by Harvard Business Review for his leadership; by Boston Globe in 2024 as one of New New England’s Top 50 Tech Power Players, BostonInno in 2014 as a top 50 on Fire in Boston; Boston Chamber with a TOYL (Ten Outstanding Young Leaders) Award in 2006. In his free time, John is a passionate photographer and an accomplished triathlete (qualified for the worlds and 4x nationals). John and his family live in Brookline, MA.