After serving 9+ years as a weather forecaster in the U.S. Air Force. John had a successful 30/yr. media career. His career included stops with the Omaha World-Herald, Media News Group, Pioneer Newspapers, Sandusky Newspapers, The Small Family, CNHI, Utah Media Group, and Hearst Newspapers. The last 14 years as a Publisher, Media & Community consultant. John served on industry boards such as NAA, NICE, CSCMA, IPA and was the board president for the International News Marketing Association (INMA) in 2014-15.
John founded 360 Media Alliance, a media industry think-tank with over 2100 members at its peak. -
John then founded Truly-Local, a movement designed to create synergies throughout the entire community involving chambers, main streets, media, government, and business leaders.
He believes these critical synergies are what it takes to build stronger community foundations from which to build stronger, loyal and more vibrant rural communities for the future.
John's passion and success have centered on marketing and branding. Communities must know and understand who they are before they can effectively market themselves. By building a loyal and trustworthy brand, one can then effectively market that brand to the outside world.
John founded Starved Rock Country, a regional branding partnership that generated massive regional tourism growth spinning off many regional branding initiatives including concerts, marathons, events, magazines, and more. This initiative helped grow tourism from just over 2 million to nearly 4 million visitors to the region in just 5 years.
John, as Publisher of The Times in Ottawa, IL. was a winner of the “Newspaper Next” initiative, an award honoring the most creative and innovative in the media industry.
John was also featured in Editor & Publisher as one of the 10 media companies that do it right. He has a track record of creative innovation, success, and vibrancy wherever he has lived and worked.
Additionally, John has worked with Main Street Organizations, Chambers, and Communities across the country and has served on many local and regional economic development boards and organizations in the communities where he worked and lived.
John's favorite quote sums up his outlook on transformation; “If you don’t like change, you will like irrelevance even less.” Change is coming regardless of where you live, failure to accept and manage that change never ends well. That is a universal truth regardless of where we are.
John is the author of a National column appearing in nearly a hundred newspapers and media websites across the country entitled, “Building Main Street, Not Wall Street.” This column has one goal, help communities and their leaders to think differently and adapt to change in a world that treats sameness harshly and only rewards those willing to manage the change into the future. In essence, building the synergies needed so a community cannot just survive, but thrive.
John and his wife Kathy have a passion for Missouri and the Ozarks, the place he and Kathy had honeymooned years ago and have always returned with their nine children when vacationing. They have always loved and lived in small town America. They now reside in Southwest Missouri and his hobbies and interests include history, weather, economics, and traveling spending time with their children and 32 grandchildren spread across this great country.
