Summary
John Mercer is a hands-on leader in data science and ML/AI engineering with 13 years of cross-industry experience building award-winning platforms, patented innovations, and high-performing teams from startup to enterprise. He blends deep academic rigor from MIT/Harvard and advanced degrees in physics and statistics with practical full‑stack and cloud-native engineering (Python/R/JS, AWS, k8s, MLOps) to turn research into production-grade, revenue-driving products. Known for creating ML and GenAI platforms used in life sciences and healthcare—plus a track record modernizing SaaS and regulated environments—he excels at unifying product, platform, and data science to shorten idea-to-production cycles. As a former competitive hockey player and championship youth coach, he brings systems thinking, discipline, and team development to technical leadership. He’s an active advisor and operator across startups and has repeatedly translated complex graph-ML and network science into actionable tools for biotech and clinical decision support. Based in Cambridge, MA, he’s open to leadership roles that pair humility with audacious missions.
13 years of coding experience
22 years of employment as a software developer
Master of Science, Physics, Master of Science, Physics at University of Washington
Management Science, Management Science at Illinois Institute of Technology
Deep Learning Nanodegree Foundation Program, Deep Learning Nanodegree Foundation Program at Udacity
Master of Science, Applied Probability and Statistics, Master of Science, Applied Probability and Statistics at Northern Illinois University
High School Diploma, High School Diploma at Saint Thomas Academy
The Culver Military System empowers students with unparalleled accountability and authority, providing essential leadership lessons as young men develop their minds, bodies and spirits., The Culver Military System empowers students with unparalleled accountability and authority, providing essential leadership lessons as young men develop their minds, bodies and spirits. at Culver Academies
B.A., Economics, B.A., Economics at St. Cloud State University
Computer Science, Computer Science at University of North Dakota
Information Management Systems, Information Management Systems at Harvard Extension School