A graduate of Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts, with a double major in communications and management, John worked for radio and television stations for the first eight years of his career. For 30 years after that, he worked for a media/advertising firm, the last seven of which, as President. John retired in 2019 and is a volunteer end-of-life-doula with Middlesex Health Hospice Program in MIddletown, Connecticut. He and his husband David are active in their church, Immanuel Congregational Church in Hartford, and live in West Hartford, Connecticut.