John Hale - Ink Your Message

John was born in Atlanta but like Sherman he did not stay long.  Johns father worked for Addressograph Multigraph (no he did not time races), in a position that required frequent relocation to Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia.  John’s mother was a telephone operator, home maker, credit manager and a teacher’s assistant.  The latter position allowed her hours to conform to those of her children, where she could be home when they were also.

John in 1978John graduated from Boca Raton, Florida high school in 1984.  He recalls school days during the Cuban missile crisis where the students did drills hiding their heads under their desks, and evacuation drills.  After graduation, John worked for four years, realizing that his future was limited without an educational skill.  Tiring of the south, his parents were then residing in New Jersey as reverse carpetbaggers.  John attended community college for two years, then transferred to Rutgers University. Unknown to Bob Slowpants, Rutgers is the state university of New Jersey, this meant cheap tuition for John!  John applied himself resulting in a B.A. in Business Administration.  After graduation he embarked in a Master of Business Administration degree program, but lost interest in completing the program.  John discovered his true calling, acquiring several Microsoft Certifications and embarking on a career in Information Technology. 

John, May and KillerJohn’s next foray into the job market was a four-year stint with CUBY Systems, a computer store his father opened in Athens, Ga.  With the business succeeding in 1995, he finally asked his soulmate May, whom he met through friends at a party at Rutgers in 1991 to marry him.  John migrated to Cap Gemini Ernst Young, a British multinational big four accounting firm (that does not know how to spell Ernest), as a systems enginer.  John left the British firm for the Swiss firm ABB for a four-year contract position at their Athens location.  The name of the firm changed to Power Partners and John was offered a permanent position as Director of Information Systems which he excelled in for twenty-one years.  The firm was, as John described, “flatten” in 2018 resulting in his position being eliminated when purchased by venture capitalists.  John had the market skills to secure a follow-on position as the Manager of Business Applications for Northeast Georgia Health System.

John goes to the DarksideWhen John initially relocated to Georgia, he resided in Winder (People in the north call it Wind-er), later self-migrating to Jefferson.  John and May have two sons, Matthew (age 20), currently an Air Force ROTC student at Valdosta State and dreams of becoming a pilot.  Younger son Mark (age 13) is with his parents in Jefferson and is a member of the Robotics team.  John’s arms are covered with tattoos down to his wrists.  He explained that one arm is of religious symbols and the other devoted to his wife May.  The marriage is strong as John has no room left for additional tattoos unless they are on his back.  John is an accomplished runner, finishing first in his age 50-55 age group in most of his running forays.  John was active in school, playing several sports: baseball, football, MX racing, and swim teams.  John suffered an ACL injury in 2005 playing volleyball and did not begin running until 2008.  He was hampered with foot injury in 2010 and avoided stressing the injury until 2014 when he returned to running with a vengeance.  John completed one hundred and fifty races in 2017.  His retirement vision is to work at Disney World.  John’s favorite race is the Disney Half Marathon which he has competed in for three years.  John has competed the Disney Dopey challenge (48.6 race miles in 4 days), finished four sprint triathlons, and the Disney Marathon four times.  John enjoys spending time with the family when not working or running.  John acknowledges like many runners participates in Run and See Georgia, Black Bag, and Clover Glove race series for the comradery more than the accolades, which he earns.  John says “there is nothing enjoyable about running for me, except the friends that endure the misery with me”.        

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Watch for the profile on Kelli Selman and the profile of Doug Barber.