John David knows that education and life experience go hand-in-hand.
Garnering work experience from a young age across multiple industries from retail to hospitality provided John with a solid foundation for bigger-picture career moves. As a UAGC graduate, his qualifications continue to grow as time passes.
“I felt that my experience, coupled with my degrees in business administration, positioned me well for roles moving forward,” he says.
Now, the father of three is elevating his personal development in a whole new light, while working in a career he truly enjoys. Maintaining work and fatherhood means a full schedule, but having the balance to create an effective routine is a product of John’s efforts leading up to this point.
A Natural Leader
John’s professional roles started in retail, where he spent five years at a Foot Locker in Huntington, West Virginia. He worked his way up through the ranks to reach a manager position. At 20 years old, he became one of youngest general managers in the district. It was during that time that he discovered he had a natural affinity for leadership.
“I really gravitated to that, and I was really good at sales, so I really found my niche as it pertains to teaching, coaching others, and leading a team,” he says.
After a five-year career, John felt it was time to switch directions, and he moved into hospitality. There he experienced a similar trajectory, moving from an on-call general manager job to managing 14 locations as regional leadership.
“I knew that if I wanted to continue my path, whether it be in a management role or leadership role, I needed to step outside this retail platform,” he says.
Even when changing jobs, where he knew the skills but not the industry, John could fall back on his leadership acumen to see him through.
Today, he is an associate executive director of Erickson Senior Living, a retirement community in Virginia. Upon entering that field, there were job nuances he wasn’t familiar with, but John found working with senior citizens and helping them lead better lives was a calling for him.
“The thing I love the most is just the connections with the team here as well as the residents,” he says. “My role is more vast now in one community. So, I think just the sheer volume of everything is different, and how I lead and how I interact is definitely a lot different as well.”
Advanced Education to Enhanced Careers
When John graduated high school, he enrolled in Marshall University for his undergraduate program but was redirected to the workforce soon after starting college. However, pausing his education meant he didn’t have the right credentials to apply for higher-level jobs. To keep elevating in his career, John saw the need to return to school and complete his higher education program he originally set out to do. Eventually, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration, followed by his MBA.
“When I was going through the job search, there were numerous roles that I felt like I could do, but they had that prerequisite of a college degree,” he explains. “Even when I applied and had the screening process and interviews, I thought I did well, but without having that college degree piece, I feel like it really put a cap on my growth moving forward.”
This decision proved to be the catalyst to his continued success. Despite showing promise on his paths, circumstances outside his control meant John experienced layoffs, with his first hospitality job coming to an end. However, he had his education from UAGC under his belt. By the time he was ready to enter the workforce again, armed with those credentials, John was able to surpass his current threshold in spectacular fashion. His education helped him earn another hospitality job as a regional director, where he managed 52 properties, three times the amount of his previous role.
His education did more than provide those needed credentials. John’s leadership style changed, allowing him to take on more responsibility, which only furthered his success.
“I was leading people who were in my role previously,” John says, “so I was leading leaders as I continued to grow my career, to hone my leadership skills, and just to be able to lead differently.”
Even a second layoff in 2023 catapulted him into his current job, where he still exercises his capabilities as an expert in his industry.
“I’m more resilient than I think I am,” he says about his lessons learned from the experience. “Even if you don't have a career for however long it is, it doesn't necessarily define you.”
Family and Mentorship for Inspiration
Changing industries meant making adjustments in workflow and skill sets, for which he needed guidance to navigate. John credits one of his district managers as a major source for inspiration and assistance during those formative times.
“I think it's invaluable,” he says. “If you're able to find somebody in your current career or at your work that you can really lean on, I think it’s invaluable. We can't put a price tag on having that person you can really turn to for that support.”
While John had his work support system, his education track was almost entirely self-motivated, and his journey to receiving his degree was far from a straight line. When he started school, his son was two years old. At the time, he was a single father, sharing custody with his then-girlfriend while working during the days. Along with that, his routine hospitality job changed into one that required extensive travel. Therefore, he became a “road warrior” and had to adjust to life and work on the go. To balance his work and personal life, the online platform at UAGC was ideal, making it possible to work on his education during his off hours.
“Having a child, I needed to make sure I'm my best self and put myself in the best position to move forward, and I knew that pursuing my degree and finishing that would set me up to do that,” he acknowledges.
Today, his oldest son is 15, and with two more younger children, John is working to establish himself even more as a role model. When he’s off the clock, John makes an effort to keep a gym routine and has recently taken up golf. An interest in donating to non-profit organizations like Grateful Giving serves as a reflection of his current stability.
“I'm at a point now where I feel pretty established from a career standpoint,” he says. “Now it’s about how I stretch myself outside of that and be more involved in the community.”