Jon has worked in the technology arena
for some time. While in college, Jon co-founded and
was president of OverByte, Corp., an accounting software company that
specialized in software for the concrete sawing and drilling industry.
The software was sold to companies in multiple states including,
Colorado, California, Oregon, Michigan and Washington. In 1991 he sold OverByte.
Also during college, Jon spent a summer in Washington, D.C. as an intern
assistant to Congressman Glenn English (D-OK), where he acted as a
liaison between the offices of the Oklahoma Congressional delegation for
the production of their five year economic development plan. In
1991, Jon graduated from the
University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in philosophy and
economics. Torn between academics and business, Jon was offered a
teaching assistant position for a philosophy of science class but ended
up taking the business route instead. Jon left academics to become the
executive vice-president, and subsequent president of InstaMart, Inc.
and E.Z. Pickens, Inc., a chain of convenience stores (approximately
$10M of annual sales) with offices in Colorado and operations in
Oklahoma.
In 1995, Jon entered the University of
Colorado’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, but in 1996
Jon was offered a position to run a recently established company in Birmingham,
Michigan. Jon left his MBA program to enter the Internet industry as the
general managing partner of the Birmingham Internet Group (BIG) of
Birmingham (Detroit), Michigan. BIG owned a cybercafé and Internet
marketing and development firm, which created Internet sites for clients
such as the NFL’s Detroit Lions and Detroit’s The Planet radio station.
The company’s cybercafé received national recognition including mentions
on CBS’s News and other national news outlets, as well as was used as a venue and resource for local
television broadcasts. Upon his arrival at BIG, Jon’s priority was to
cut costs and streamline operations. During his tenure, apart from
overseeing all elements of the operations, Jon also personally worked
with existing and new clients, as well as performed repositioning for
partnership and acquisition opportunities. Jon cut costs, streamlined
operations and returned to Colorado to look at new opportunities.
Upon his return and armed with fresh
experience in turnaround situations, Jon was then named the intern Chief
Operation Officer of LaserSport, LLC., of Boulder, Colorado. LaserSport,
was a manufacturer of laser-tag arena equipment with operations in
Norway under the “FBI” brand name.
However, Jon had seen the light in the
form of the internet (note: he still thinks this way even after the
Internet bubble burst) and its ability to delivery the world's people,
places, and products in real-time! Research and preliminary work for
these concepts took Jon to Southeast Asia where he reached preliminary
agreements with potential vendors and agents.
From these pursuits, in 1997 Jon
created TheArtifact.com™, which
quickly became one of the largest retailers of museum and artifact
reproductions online. In 1999, TheArtifact was selected and featured on
ABC.COM as one of leading Egyptian Resources during their airing of
Cleopatra starring Timothy Dalton. In April 2000, our reproduction of
King Tut's Funerary Mask and TheArtifact was mentioned in the cover
article of Germany’s GEO Magazine (similar to National Geographic in the
U.S.). In January 2000, Presence Magazine recognized TheArtifact as a
top site in their "Best of the Web 2000" article.
TheArtifact products were sold to not
only to countless homes and offices throughout the world, but also
institutions. Numerous Museums, including the Boston Museum of Science
(in both 1999 & 2002) have purchased our reproductions for use in
exhibits and as teaching tools. In 2002 Universal Studios Theme-park in
Japan used our items in their Mummy II exhibit, and in 2002 we supplied
artifact reproductions to Studium Biblicum (a Honk Kong School) for
their student exhibitions. TheArtifact has had suppliers and customers
on every continent!
Consulting anyone? With an
ever increasing percentage of TheArtifact's sales being international and with
Jon’s international experience and interest, in 1999 Jon co-founded and
was founding president of TamTam. TamTam provides international
consulting services for companies in or about to enter international
markets. During Jon’s tenure the team grew from to over 20
diverse employees ranging from a ex-Assistant Secretary of the U.S.
Department of Commerce appointed by President Clinton to interns from
France, China, and Canada. With fluency in 8 languages, the company had
over 2,000 clients in 40 countries ranging from a small Biochemical Firm
in India to Fortune 500 companies such as Western Union.
While at TamTam, TheArtifact sales and
customers were handled by a California company. In 2002, Jon returned to
Arden and also reassumed control of TheArtifact. Since his return he
has worked diligently on strengthening Arden’s existing brands as well
as diversifying into other retail and business services, including Arden
Business Services and ScanGo. Jon’s personal and business network
provide Arden a robust talent base for their all of their clients, be it
an internal Arden company or an external consulting client.
Jon has served on a number of
non-profit boards including two-terms on the Board of Directors (as
treasurer) of the Colorado Internet Keiretsu (CIK)
– a group for the founders and chief executives of Colorado based
Internet related companies – which during his second term grew to over 500
members. Jon also served as treasure of the board of directors of
the Park Lane Owners Association, overseeing it's annual operational budget
in excess of $2 million dollars. The long-term budget models and reserve
analysis he created during his tenure are still used by the board and
management today.
In 2001, Jon guest lectured at the
University of Denver’s MBA program on International Business and
Security and he was a contributor to a 2002 Aberdeen Group report on
Global Logistics.
Jon has an undergraduate degree in
economics and philosophy from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Jon
also attended the MBA program at the University of Colorado, prior to
leaving it for Michigan to run his first internet venture.
Mr. Fetzer enjoys biking, skiing, and
traveling. Jon’s international experiences include: Byelarus, Canada,
China, England, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico,
Russia, Singapore, Spain and Ukraine. He currently resides in Denver,
Colorado.
Arden is Experience!
"Been
there, done that", well at Arden not only is that true, but in many cases
we are Doing it Everyday! Our diverse
businesses from retail to services provide trusted solutions for
consumers, business and organizations worldwide.