John is a Partner at Miller Wenhold Capitol Strategies where he provides association management and government affairs services to individuals, firms and organizations. John utilizes his decades of experience to help our clients navigate through everything from regulatory threats to their industry to expanding the marketplace for new products.

He serves as Administrator of the Council on Federal Procurement of Architectural-Engineering Services (COFPAES), a coalition of the nation’s leading design professional societies, Executive Director of the Maryland Society of Surveyors (MSS) and Virginia Association of Surveyors, President of the Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC), a coalition of individuals, firms, associations think tanks and advocacy groups that seek a level playing field with the government and government-supported entities in the free market economy, Executive Director of the Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) Association, a trade association of specialty utility location and analysis firms, and is the Founder and President of the U.S. Geospatial Executives Organization (U.S. GEO), a coalition of leading geospatial firm principals, owners, and partners. He currently provides federal government relations services to the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS).

He has also served as Executive Director of America Moving Forward, an association of private firms engaged in public private partnerships (P3s) for the design, construction and management of highway transportation assets and infrastructure, where he managed a national public relations effort to promote P3s policies and programs in the States, where he oversaw a national public relations agency, was liaison to federal and state government, and provided day-to-day management of the association.

John has served as Chairman of the Procurement and Privatization Council of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber’s Small Business Council. 

He served for eight years as a Congressional staff assistant, including service as an aide to former Congressman John Myers (R-IN) and former Congressman Bill Hendon (R-NC).

John was the first Government Affairs Director of the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM) and the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) and is a former Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs for ACSM. He is a frequent author of articles on legislative, marketing and public policy issues.  

John served as the first paid Executive Director of MAPPS, a national association of geospatial firms, with responsibility for total management of the association, including finance and administration, serving President and Board of Directors, membership development, marketing, meeting planning, government affairs, public relations, and publications. John was instrumental in the founding of MAPPS, helped build the organization, and held the position of Executive Director for more than 30 years.

John is a former 9-year member of the Fairfax County (VA) Planning Commission, representing the Hunter Mill District, including the planned community of Reston and the Dulles Corridor.  He has held leadership positions in numerous community, civic, and political organizations. He was appointed by the Virginia General Assembly to the Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN) study committee’s technical advisory committee and a study committee to the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) on licensing of photogrammetrists.  He has served on the Fairfax County Major League Baseball Stadium Site Selection Committee, the Transportation Advisory Committee and Airports Advisory Committee. He was an original member of the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), appointed by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, and was appointed to the Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN) Advisory Board by Governor Bob McDonnell.