Oct 31, 2015
www.ioncamera.com
Giovanni Tomaselli is founder and CEO of iON America and its sister company, World Wide Licenses Ltd. (WWL), which he formed in 1993. For more than 20 years, WWL has been involved in the design, development and manufacturing of digital imaging products for leading brands worldwide, including Kodak, Disney and Polaroid.
In 2012, Giovanni launched iON and unveiled the company’s first fully-waterproof and Wi-Fi-enabled HD sports video cameras. The iON line is designed to make it easy to shoot and share action content.
Prior to iON, Giovanni developed Disney-branded computer accessories and cameras for WWL throughout the 1990s and helped to create Polaroid’s next generation digital camera in 2001. In 2002, WWL secured the exclusive rights to design, develop and distribute Polaroid digital cameras worldwide, and became the first company to put a digital camera into a video camera format. By the next year, WWL had shipped more than two million Polaroid cameras to 30 countries worldwide.
In 2006, Giovanni sold WWL to a leading consumer electronics manufacturing specialist, Flextronics, where he led the CE design group before acquiring WWL back in 2009. Since then, WWL has been focused on the design and development of portable, connected, consumer devices including inkless printers and portable video cameras. In 2009, Giovanni re-launched the Polaroid brand again, working closely with Lady Gaga, who served as Polaroid’s creative director.
Giovanni and WWL were the focus of a Harvard Business School case study, documenting the company’s success as a foreign entity penetrating the Japanese market with imaging products.
Giovanni began his career in real estate development and sports marketing, where he struck a massive, global licensing deal with the Soccer World Cup 1994. He is an Australian native who lived in Hong Kong for two decades before relocating to the United States for iON in 2013.