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John is a native Mississippian. Born and raised here, he graduated from Tupelo High School in 1978. After earning degrees in biochemistry from Mississippi State University, he attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, receiving an M.A. in biology in 1988. In 1988, he began working for SRA Technologies, a Washington-area consulting firm. Over 5 years, he was promoted from Research Technician to Director of Molecular Biology Research & Development. As a result of his work for SRA and other companies, he is an inventor on 7 US Patents and the author of numerous scientific papers and book chapters in the field of DNA technology. He founded and served as Chief Technology Officer for Etiogen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., from 1998-2001. He continues this work as a consultant with his own company, Palmetto Consulting & Research, and as an instructor at Itawamba Community College, where he teaches biology, anatomy & physiology, and physical science.
John has been married for 22 years
to the former Gwendolyn Miles of Starkville. Gwen holds a degree in
biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Maryland. They live in the Palmetto
community outside Tupelo, on the family farm where John grew up.
In 2001, John and Gwen moved back
home to Mississippi to be near their families and to help bring about
positive change in the state. They have helped organize the Green Party
of Mississippi which achieved ballot status in 2002. They helped plan
and organize two state small-farm conferences (Yazoo City, 2002 and
2004) that brought together family farmers, Extension researchers, and
experts in organic and sustainable agriculture technologies. They have
grown and marketed free-range eggs, pastured poultry, and vegetables at
local farmers' markets. They were founding members of Sustainable
Tupelo, which helped convince the City of Tupelo to offer curbside
recycling for the first time. They
have been supporters of Friends of the Lee County Library since 2001.
They are students of permaculture
(John completed the Permaculture
Design Course in Indiana in May 2006) and worked with the Boys
& Girls Club to start a children’s garden in the
Haven Acres community in 2007.
