John Gardner has worked for Finland-based mobile handset company Nokia for more than 20 years. He worked at a Nokia corporate venturing unit spun off from the company as BlueRun Ventures between 1998 and 2007 before becoming managing partner at Nokia Growth Partners, which looked at later-stage deals. He previously worked as a business development manager.

Gardner is a board observer for Cloudmark and Verve Wireless. He has an MBA from University of Chicago and a law degree from University of Cincinnati – College of Law.