John has been engaged in fundraising, development and policy research related to land conservation and battlefield preservation in Virginia and nationally for more than 32 years. John has directed land acquisition and conservation programs at the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and been the lead managing partner for the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District since 2001. He has protected thousands of acres on the ten Civil War battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley through donation, bargain sale and fee purchase. John is a graduate of the University of the South in Sewanee where he double majored in American history and American literature. He also received a master’s degree in urban and regional planning with a certificate in historic preservation at the University of Virginia in 2000, attended Mary Baldwin College and Saint John’s College in Oxford, England.