
John C. Johnson
Founder, Managing Director
JJohnson@bluestemusa.com
(918) 749-6016
For three decades, John has devoted full-time focus on the mergers and acquisitions profession. As an advisor, advocate and intermediary for business owners, he has personally handled business sales from start to finish to ensure his clients’ best outcomes. He has managed scores of business sales – giving counsel, preparing value assessments for “hold-and-grow or sell-and-go” decisions, and guiding clients through the acquisition or divestiture process and decisions. As the Founder of BluestemUSA, John continues to provide unlimited direction, guidance and wisdom to both the Firm and his clients.
John’s life experiences include training as an engineer, in business management for a Fortune 100 company and through businesses’ he has personally owned and managed. He appreciates and respects business owner’s sacrifice, stress, risk and work. He also knows the relief, freedom and exhilaration owners will feel when successfully completing a transaction with the best possible outcome.
At Amoco (now BP Exxon) and Union Pacific Corporation, John managed professions in key strategic and investment decisions through financial analysis, economic evaluations, strategic plans and in mergers and acquisitions. He built and successfully sold a private distribution business. He as owned a land and cattle business, limestone mining interests and a fiberglass product manufacturing business.
John Johnson brings a unique blend of expertise for crafting the best outcomes for clients when selling a business.
Experience
From the earliest days of his career, John Johnson has cultivated a broad knowledge base and refined skills that are invaluable in acquisitions and divestitures. He is adept at strategic thinking, business and financial analysis, negotiations and ownership issues.
With over three decades of fulltime commitment to his client’s business sales and acquisitions, John is nationally and locally respected as one of the leading M&A profession’s practitioners, a leader who is broadly trained and highly respected. He is recognized as “Industry Expert for the Oil and Gas Industry” by Business Brokerage Press.
Recognizing the importance of having an extensive network of resources, John Johnson is both a Founder and Managing Partner of IBG Business (a nationwide M&A broker and advisor firm) as well as The Oil & Gas Advisor (a specialist firm in energy-related M&A). BluestemUSA is a proud partner of both organizations.
Education & Awards
- BS in Petroleum Engineering from The University of Tulsa
- MBA from Texas Christian University
- Founder and Chair of the M&A Source
- Past President and Board Chair of the Tulsa Executives Association
- M&A Source Darrel Fouts Award for M&A Profession Leadership
- International Business Brokers Association’s Chairman’s Award
- Tom West Award for outstanding contributions to development of the profession and its ethics
- Small Business Administration’s Award – Oklahoma Financial Services Advocate of the year
Areas of Expertise
With over thirty years of experience, John has participated in almost every business sector, but he has specialty expertise in: energy, manufacturing, wholesale trade, construction, business services, professional services and trucking.
Professional Certifications
- Licensed Realtor/Broker
- Certified Business Intermediary (CBI)
- Mergers and Acquisitions Master Intermediary (M&AMI)
- Fellow and Life Member of the IBBA
- Fellow and Life Member of the M&A Source
If you are considering selling a business, today or in the future, now is the time to contact John to confidentially discover how, together, you can achieve your business sale objectives.