John is a person in long term recovery and has a family member in recovery. He is the father of two daughters and three grandchildren and is a guardian caregiver for one of his grandsons. John has his MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. He has been a volunteer and advocate in the community with prevention, treatment, recovery and harm-reduction issues for several years. John was on the initial governance council for SOS to help shape the vision before SOS opened Recovery Community Centers in Strafford County. He founded Families Hoping and Coping, a peer based family support group, in Dover in 2014.

He has traveled to Columbia, Montreal, Portugal, and Melbourne, Australia to attend International Harm Reduction Conferences and is an advocate for criminal justice reform, harm reduction strategies and promoting inclusivity, diversity and removing barriers for marginalized individuals. John is a graduate of the Leadership Seacoast Class of 2019. John led development of the “Art & Science of Peer-Assisted Recovery,” a comprehensive training curriculum for peer-recovery support services that is utilized statewide. He has also developed additional trainings on harm reduction, compassionate overdose prevention, tertiary prevention, motivational interviewing, drug trends, suicide prevention, HIV and Hepatitis C prevention, and workforce development at SOS for individuals to receive training as Certified Recovery Support Workers. He trains Motivational Interviewing extensively around the country and is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT).

He was appointed by Governor Sununu to serve on the NH Overdose Death Fatality Review Commission and continues as a member. He also serves on the Budget Committee for the NH Governor’s Commission for Alcohol and other Drugs and the advisory board for the NH Prescription Drug Monitoring Program.