John Shoemaker

Commissioner John Shoemaker was elected to the office of Commissioner in March of 2020.

John and his wife Paula have lived in Highland Beach since 2006. They have two grown children and five grandchildren. Their son, Eric, lives in the Boston area and their daughter, Lisa, in the Miami area.

John graduated with a BBS in Management from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, before enlisting in the Army. He completed infantry training, graduated from Airborne School and Officer Candidate School before going to advanced jungle training in the Panama Canal Zone. Lieutenant Shoemaker went to Vietnam and became a combat Platoon Leader and Company Commander in the 196th Light Infantry Brigade of the “Americal” Division in Chu Lai. He was awarded 3 Bronze Stars, 2 for Valor, the Air Medal, 2 Army Commendation medals, one for Valor, and the Purple Heart.

Returning from Vietnam, he was in the Army Reserve, completed his MBA from Suffolk University in Boston and worked for Xerox Corporation as a sales and marketing executive. After 12 years, John went on to become a senior executive at VP/EVP levels in several high technology companies, including BBN Cambridge, Symbol Technologies and Transcore, Inc. Much of his career included sales, marketing, customer service and engineering support for such technologies as advanced manufacturing and robotics, computer software applications, data collection and solutions, bar coding and radio frequency identification (RFID).  John has been a technology evangelist, consultant, and speaker at events around the world.

John’s hobby is writing and has had hundreds of articles published in newspapers and magazines covering a wide range of topics. He is an avid mountain hiker and environmentalist. John also is a Director on the Board of the Highland Beach Club condominium community.