John A. Churchill
COO of Literacy and Life, has more than 25 years of senior-level experience with a national nonprofit organization where he led operational effectiveness, organization transition, strategic planning, and capacity building .His expertise includes production and manufacturing operations, information systems, and facilities management.
Before joining Literacy and Life, John served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D), the nation’s leading provider of digitally produced textbooks. During his tenure with RFB&D, John led the strategic growth and continuous refinement of operations. Accountabilities included the production, storage and distribution of more than 250,000 audiobooks annually; the acquisition and implementation of new technology, new business development, and the training and retention of 7,000 volunteers across 29 recording studios. He provided knowledge leadership up, down and across the organization, while brokering relationships and contracts for RFB&D with peer and partner organizations in publishing and assistive technology.
During his 25 year tenure with RFB&D, John achieved significant results for the organization including leading the merger and incorporation a non profit accessible electronic text organization into RFB&D’s services, positioning RFB&D as a leader in both audio and electronic text distribution. He brokered and leveraged international relationships in the assistive technology field to optimize RFB&D’s position as a global leader in digital reading technologies.
John initiated planning and directed the implementation of a massive organization-wide transition to an all-digital environment, which doubled manufacturing capacity and resulted in over $3.5M in cost efficiencies. He had oversight for project planning, facilities expansion and real estate acquisition to accommodate growth in manufacturing and production operations nationwide. This included the relocation of the RFB&D headquarters and the construction of new recording and administrative facilities.
As Inaugural co-chair of RFB&D’s strategic planning workgroup, John led efforts to sustain organization-wide advancement in all areas of operations, technology, organizational structure and culture. He developed and implemented an employee skills based incentive program to build a more flexible work force, and improve productivity.
John served as Principal Investigator or Project Manager for federal and state grants: U.S. Departments’ of Education and Energy, U.S. Department on Housing and Urban Development (HUD), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). He is also a past member of the DAISY Consortium board of directors, with headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland
John resides in New Jersey with his wife and two sons. He received his B.A. in Business Administration from William Paterson College, and attended The College of New Jersey focusing on Industrial Engineering studies.