John was born in Springfield, the middle of seven kids, he attended Glendale High School then earned his degree in biology at Missouri State University. After graduation, he moved to the Pacific Northwest where he ran a hydroelectric powerplant, and became a certified water plant manager.
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John worked as a carpenter for about 6 years, including building windows and doors to support himself through grad school. John received his MBA from Bainbridge Graduate Institute (which later merged with the Presidio School at Redlands University) John Chiles worked in startup investing for four years, primarily with E8 Angels in Seattle, the largest cleantech angel group in the United States and Canada. At E8, he oversaw deal screening, coordinated the due diligence teams of angel investors and for E8s Angel Fund.Â
About John
In 2018 he had the opportunity to move home to Springfield to work with his Dad, Mike Chiles, a seasoned entrepreneur and inventor.   Hope’s Garden was a proposed project using waste heat from the Bluebird data center to warm a three-acre hydroponic greenhouse. One of the biggest costs of running a greenhouse is heating.  This was part of a larger local food initiative which included a future food hub and young farmer ag accelerator.  Mike and John met with hundreds of local farmers, non-profit and civic leaders.  They recruited local engineers and contractors, as well as the top greenhouse companies in the country for the project, and negotiated offtake commitments from Associated Wholesale Grocers, Compass Group and other food buyers. Despite securing financial commitments from investors, local site constraints and high interest rates led them to shelve the project in 2024.
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John has taught for about a decade, and is part-time adjunct professor at the Presidio School at the University of Redlands, where he teaches impact investing and venture capital to graduate business students.  He is the designer and founder of Embersound, an Ozark modern speaker company, which is made in the Ozarks.  A former board member of the White River Sierra Club and Springfield Community Gardens, when he’s not knocking doors or meeting with folks in the 135th, you can find him fixing fences and planting trees on his family’s farm in Bois D’arc.
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