Fast 15: John Whitman

John Whitman’s path to a successful technology career was fostered as a child, and kicked into high-gear when he was just 16 years old.

While most teens were still in high school, Whitman, a home-schooled student, was assisting the Information Systems Division for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with major software upgrades for the company’s home office employees in Bentonville.

When he was 18, Whitman led a software and hardware upgrade at each of the retailer’s U.S. distribution centers.

“Anything that turned on, basically, at the distribution center level, we upgraded it,” he said.

From there, Whitman opted for the supplier world and a job at R&R Solutions in Gravette, following one of his early mentors from the Walmart project, Barry Musteen. For six years (2006-2012), Whitman managed and deployed technology to several of the country’s largest retailers. By age 21, he was leading a team of 20 support staff and 100 field service engineers.

But when the chance to join Rockfish, one of the marketing world’s elite digital design firms, presented itself in the spring of 2012, Whitman pursued it — aggressively.

“Four interviews and three months later, I made my way over here,” he said. “It’s been a great fit.”

Whitman identifies and leverages innovation to help solve problems for Walmart and other clients.

“Everything we do is solving a problem, so what that means is our clients are excited to receive our services,” he said. “They are so excited about the result, and that kind of validation is very powerful.”

Whitman has several successful projects under his belt at Rockfish but said leveraging his own knowledge of Walmart systems and operations to collaborate on the SPARC (Supplier Portal Allowing Retail Coverage) tool is his most successful. It’s a mobile application that provides vendor teams with real-time inventory information from Walmart stores, which was previously not possible.

In the community, Whitman is a board member of the nonprofit Helen R. Walton Children’s Enrichment Center in Bentonville and a member of the NWA Tech Council.

He and his wife also own a wedding photography company called Photo Love Photography, founded in 2009. The business has realized almost 100 percent growth in four years and in 2013 had sales of about $140,000. The company’s work has been printed in several publications, including People Magazine.