I don’t hesitate when I call John Penn II a hero. But when you ask him, he says it takes a group effort to do what he does—to save missing and exploited children with Adobe’s technology.
Having been with Adobe for 20 years, John first joined Adobe as a senior computer scientist on the Photoshop team. At the time, this was his dream job, having admired and respected Adobe’s products for a long time. But then his life and career changed drastically.
“A colleague of mine on the Adobe Philanthropy Council asked if I’d be interested in attending the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children conference. One of the sessions was hosted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and was about identifying the victims of child exploitation,” John said.
“That one day turned into the beginning of everything. I walked away at the end of that session thinking about how Adobe could help. I asked for more information and was invited to NCMEC’s headquarters in Washington D.C. to learn more. I ended up spending my first and second sabbaticals working with them.”
An unimaginable career path
From there, John understood that helping NCMEC and law enforcement was his true career calling. He drafted a proposal to Adobe’s CEO, Shantanu Narayen, on why his new focus would be an impactful position to have. After it was approved, John officially became a Senior Solutions Architect for Law Enforcement Technologies.
In this role, John works directly with NCMEC and law enforcement agencies to develop new technologies to help with the challenges that law enforcement faces in keeping communities and children safe. He also develops specialized techniques and training around technology and speaks and teaches globally, particularly on the topics of industry and government use of technology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCaXAByA4bU&feature=emb_title
“I never imagined I’d be working on something like this. It’s hard to fathom the transition. I started off as an engineer and now I’m part of the Worldwide Field Operations organization, where I’m given the best resources to make a difference and connect directly with the government and law enforcement sector.”
In addition to supporting NCMEC with digital image processing in Photoshop—like providing unreleased or developing technologies to help them solve cases—John is currently in the process of providing them digital experience resources from the Adobe Experience Cloud.