Although born and raised in Australia, Ross A. Johnson embodies the quintessential American entrepreneur. Ross is an inventor, manufacturer, salesman, and CEO. The company he founded, Mobilight, Inc., manufactures portable high intensity light towers. Mobilight towers are familiar to many of us because they illuminate freeway construction at night. Yet they have many other uses from allowing mines and oil fields to operate 24/7 to lighting high school nighttime football games and lighting the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Mobilight towers, which Ross personally developed and engineered, have the brightest and longest range floodlight design available.
Ross was born to a family of electricians in Perth, Australia in 1956. Ross followed in the family tradition and, in 1979, qualified as an electrical contractor. He began his career installing air conditioning and industrial equipment and lighting. During that time, Ross learned a great deal about high-intensity lighting, knowledge that would serve him well in the years to come.
In 1986, while still in Australia, he developed his first portable light system to allow him to work at night on his five-acre hobby farm. He modified and refined the system many times and came to realize that it had commercial potential. In 1989, after many design changes, Ross created his company called Alight, to manufacture and sell his invention. Although the company was very successful, Ross sold Alight in 1991.
After selling Alight, Ross moved to Utah in November, 1991. He threw himself into his work, and eventually developed a totally new tower. The work paid off and Ross sold his first four units to Kennecott. On January 24, 1995, Ross incorporated Mobilight, Inc.
Despite its humble beginning and equally humble resurrection, since 2001, Mobilight has enjoyed phenomenal success with sales doubling each year. In 2002, Mobilight began shipping units to Chile and Mexico, in 2003, to Indonesia.
Military bases are discovering that Mobilight systems can be a valuable component of base security. Mobilight towers were used in Louisiana after the Katrina and Rita hurricanes to provide power and light to the security bases. Meanwhile, Ross keeps inventing. Ross is currently developing a system to assist Homeland Security in illuminating and monitoring the nation's borders.