John was born on Easter Sunday in 1967 and his birthday has only fallen on Easter four times since. He has always had a wandering spirit. As a child his mother had a hard time keeping him home. John was always exploring the hills of southern Ohio, where he was born and raised. He graduated from Coal Grove High School in 1985 and immediately bought a bus ticket to South Carolina, where he lived and worked in North Myrtle Beach for three months before beginning college. He attended Devry Institute of Technology in Columbus, Ohio and graduated in 1989 with a degree in Electronic Engineering Technology.
John had four job offers before graduating and he chose Weston Control Systems, in Archbald Pennsylvania, beginning his career in the gauging field. John started out as a Field Service Engineer and has been involved in the service side of the business ever since. He worked for Weston for a year and a half until the company was bought by Loral and became Loral Control Systems. During these early years, John travelled to several countries spending the most time in Russia, France and Spain. His travels have taken him to seventeen foreign countries over the years and he has many interesting stories to tell. In 1995, Loral opened a field office to support the Chicagoland steel business and John relocated to the southern suburbs. After moving to Chicago, the company name on John’s checks changed several times but his job did not. These names included Lockheed, Honeywell, Radiometrie and Thermo Scientific.
In 2000, John was contacted by Scott Cook from Advanced Gauging Technologies. At first John was skeptical working for such a small company but Scott can be persistent. He saw the huge potential Advanced Gauging offered and his new career began in July of 2000. Scott commented that he knew he was going to hire John when he arrived for the interview in a Pontiac Grand Prix. Both Scott and his father Ron were big fans of Pontiac. John eventually became the Senior Field Service Engineer after A.G.T. hired more service technicians. John has 26 years of experience with many different brands and styles of gauges. His overall experience and knowledge of thickness gauging technology has proven invaluable to the company, giving him the ability to assist customers with gauges that we as a company may not normally service. With the addition of new service personnel he has focused more on system startups and special assignments.
John is an avid duffer (or golfer if you prefer). He began playing at age seven when his dad cut down a five iron and he began to tag along with the “guys”. Thanks to all the travelling over the years John has been able to play some really diverse courses all across the U.S. In 2004, John found a new passion that has really put a dent in his golf game. He took up motorcycle riding. Unfortunately, if it is warm enough to golf it is warm enough to ride and lately riding has taken precedent. John really enjoys riding vacations and has taken several week long rides over the years. His two favorites are a trip to Maine to get fresh lobster and a trip to Tennessee to ride the “Tail of the Dragon”, US129, which has 318 curves in eleven miles. John also enjoys shooting and has a diverse collection of firearms.