Before joining the firm, John served as Senior Vice President of a Washington DC top-tier government relations group. He also previously served as a government relations advisor for one of the Gulf South’s largest law firms. In support of both endeavors, he focused on maritime, transportation, ocean resource, Army of Corps of Engineers (USACE), and other policy issues.
John served as a legislative assistant and congressional fellow to US Senator John Breaux (1998-2004). In this capacity, he played an integral role to the Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee in support of maritime, marine resource and transportation issues and related policy development. During his tenure as a staff member in the senate, John worked on a wide variety of maritime, transportation and ocean resource matters, including the Maritime Transportation Safety Act, Oceans Act, Aquatic Resources Trust Fund (Wallop-Breaux), Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and Management Act and numerous Coast Guard authorization bills. He has served as US delegate to the International Convention for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna.
John served in the US Coast Guard, both as a commissioned officer and senior enlisted member, from 1978-2003, in positions with increasing responsibility, principally in the marine safety program. On the occasion of his retirement from the Coast Guard, he held virtually all attainable marine safety and marine inspection qualifications. He is also a National Interagency Incident Command System (ICS) Instructor.
