About

Like many of the boys and girls growing up in the blue collar, factory city of Camden, New Jersey, John attended the local county vocational/technical high school. Upon graduation he applied for a highly coveted spot in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union’s Apprenticeship Training Program. In 1977 he was accepted into the IBEW and began a four year apprenticeship which included working fulltime in the electrical construction field while attending the Joint Apprenticeship and Training School in the evening. After receiving 8,000 hours of on the job training and 600 hours of related classroom instruction through the union’s nationally recognized apprenticeship program, he was accepted into the IBEW LOCAL 439 as a Journeyman Wireman.

It was while working as a journey worker that he began really enjoying training other young men and women assigned to him as apprentices. It was at that point John developed his passion for education. He attended the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Labor Education. After eighteen years in the Electrical Construction Industry, John moved into the public education arena returning to his own Alma Mater, Camden County Technical Schools.

John received his Master of Science Degree in Education Administration from the University of Scranton and spent the next nineteen years as an administrator at the Technical Schools District. He also served as the Coordinator of Apprenticeship Programs for the County of Camden, New Jersey and served numerous terms as President of the Association of New Jersey Apprenticeship Coordinators.

Throughout his tenure in education both within the organized labor movement and within the public school system, John gained the knowledge and experience to become one of New Jersey’s most highly regarded advocates in the field of Career and Technical Education. He has served on many statewide taskforces on Career Education, Teacher Preparation and Certification, and most importantly; Workforce Development. He has presented at countless New Jersey Labor and Education Conferences, as well as numerous National Conferences on Workforce Development.

John retired in 2014 and enjoys fishing and golf at the Delaware beach area as well as blogging about the latest trends in education and workforce development. He continues to be a strong advocate for a highly trained and highly skilled workforce as a long term solution for our Nation’s economic wellbeing. He currently serves on the Cape Henlopen School District’s budget oversight committee. John is not now, nor has he ever been, shy about expressing what he thinks needs to be done to make our country’s infrastructure strong and our industrial capacity number one in the World.