John is an accomplished business attorney and leader who brings to bear his experience and perspective from more than 30 years of practice at the highest levels of government and the private sector. He focuses on assisting clients with the full range of commercial transactions and contracts, mergers and acquisitions, and outside general counsel services. He particularly enjoys working as an integrated member of a business’s senior management team to help enable growth with pragmatic legal solutions while identifying and mitigating risk and bolstering corporate governance.

His government experience includes serving as the Senate-confirmed General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2018 to 2019 and as Associate Counsel to the President of the United States (2005-2007) with responsibility for the entire homeland security portfolio. From 2002 to 2004, he assisted in the establishment of DHS in the Transition Planning Office and then served as DHS’s first Associate General Counsel for Science and Technology. He has also served in the U.S. Department of Justice.

John’s private sector experience includes serving as Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of a Raytheon business unit with over $3 billion in annual sales, over 9,000 employees, and operations in over 40 countries and on all continents (2007-2013), and most recently as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Valaurum, Inc., a high-growth creator and manufacturer of innovative gold currency and cryptocurrency products. He began his legal career at the law firm now known as Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP (1988- 2001), where he was a partner specializing in mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and commercial contracts.

John received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science (summa cum laude) from Emory University. He is based in the Washington, DC, area and serves on the Board of Trustees of The Langley School in McLean, Virginia.