John Howell
John is the founder and principal consultant of The Cloud Bureau. A twelve-time certified solution architect, administrator, and advanced developer, John delights in helping organizations realize their investment in the Salesforce platform.
John has led multiple enterprise Salesforce implementations in a formal consulting context, served as a do-it-all administrator, and audited and rearchitected a great many orgs and point solutions therein. His industry expertise comprises nonprofit administration, commercial real estate, and higher education. His past clients include, additionally, a professional sports team, multiple technology vendors, and a light manufacturing sales and service outfit.
Like many in the Salesforce ecosystem, John’s professional trajectory is non-standard. He holds a PhD in Religion, Literature, and Visual Culture from the University of Chicago, and he became an accidental information technology professional while lecturing and working in an administrative position in higher education. His fascination with the collection, management, and orchestration of student data prompted a career pivot to relational database administration and development. Happily, skills honed in academic teaching and research translated well to this changed context: both endeavors demand the capacities to synthesize information efficiently, to balance a fierce attention to detail with systems-level thought, and to engage conversation partners with rigor, creativity, agility, good faith, and deep respect.