John was born and raised in the Detroit, Michigan area and graduated from Michigan State University. After the great blizzard of 1978, he accepted a position with a small startup company on the Monterey Peninsula and, like many others, quickly fell in love with the region.

In 1981, he joined Merrill Lynch in Carmel and built a long and successful career as a financial adviser before retiring from the firm in 2022. He now enjoys spending time in the community he has called home for decades.