John studied Political Science and Public Administration in college, and is a Certified Public Manager. After college John joined AmeriCorps as an AmeriCorpsVISTA and then an AmeriCorpsVISTA leader, and worked for the American Red Cross Disaster Services, leading disaster relief efforts as a Red Cross government liaison and a shelter manager. The Red Cross AmeriCorps program he managed was awarded the Federal Service Impact Award by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) for being the best national service disaster relief project in the country in 2010.
John served as a Peace Corps community health specialist in the Republic of Moldova between 2013-2015, specifically focusing on anti-tuberculosis community health interventions (in addition to teaching middle and high school-level health classes in the local school).
John joined Spark as the National Service Programs Administrator in 2019. He helped initially establish Spark’s AmeriCorps Senior Companion program, AmeriCorps RSVP program, and the Spark Health Corps. During the COVID-19 pandemic John deployed community volunteers to Colorado’s nonprofits statewide, and trained Spark volunteers in PPE procedures and SARS-CoV-2 worksite safety before they volunteered for Spark at COVID-19 testing sites and before they volunteered in support of the emergency homeless shelters at the Denver Coliseum and the National Western Complex.
John was a professional bookbinder and an amateur printmaker. In his free time he paints tiny miniature figurines, watches too many movies, and reads trashy pulp sci-fi and fantasy books.