After 34 years of management and leadership responsibilities in the field of management development, John retired at a Director level from Pfizer World Headquarters in New York City. Prior to and concurrent with his Pfizer career, he served in the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve. In national competition, he was selected as Commanding Officer for five consecutive commands and retired as a Captain (06 level) after 28 years.

John was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and his wife, Suzanne, in Independence, Missouri. They started their marriage living for 18 years in the greater Los Angeles area and then for 23 years in New Canaan, Connecticut. He retired in 2006 and they moved from Connecticut to live on the Lake of the Ozarks waterfront. Here he explored volunteerism and service opportunities at the community, state, and national levels. In his community, he served as a ruling elder at his home church for a three-year term. He also served as president of the local Optimist Club and as Lt. Gov in the West Missouri Optimist District.

On the state level, he began serving as a Governor-appointed Commissioner on the Missouri Community Service Commission (MCSC)in 2009. He established and led the ad hoc Legislative Education Committee in 2012 and advocated for its standing committee status in 2014. He was elected and served as MCSC Vice Chair from 2015-2018. He was elected and served as Chair from 2019-2020, then re-elected Chair for the 2021-2022 term.

On the national level, he is serving in his fourth term on the Board of Directors of America’s Service Commissions (ASC), the national association for the 52 Governor-appointed state service commissions. In 2014, he was invited to serve on the Corporate Institute Leadership Faculty, a Points of Light advisory body. He was certified nationally as A Billion + Change Pro Bono Champion (a skilled-based volunteering initiative) by POL in 2014. In July 2015, he founded and chaired the first Missouri National Service Coalition, as a chapter of Voices for National Service. This coalition, with the Mayors of Kansas City and St. Louis acting as honorary co-chairs, advocated for U.S. Senate and U. S. House of Representatives federal appropriations funding for the expansion of AmeriCorps.

He was recognized twice in 2016 for his national service advocacy. He was selected and recognized by Voices for National Service as “National Service Advocate of the Year”. He was also selected and recognized as the ASC “Commissioner of the Year”. He graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in mathematics and has completed numerous post graduate studies in performance management, coaching, management/leadership development, and business. He is married to Suzanne and will be celebrating their 54th wedding anniversary in 2021. They have been blessed with two adult children and 5 grandchildren.