John Hale's career at John Deere career began in Baltimore, Md., in April 1980, with the Eastern Industrial Region. His first of many field assignments was throughout much of Pennsylvania and Delaware collecting delinquent retail note payments (and in some cases, he said, regretfully repossessing equipment) from contractors and logging customers. Those were days of very high interest rates. This was the first of at least nine moves with the company, and he called it an excellent introduction to customer business, dealer business, John Deere equipment, and the importance of quality service, effective collection techniques, and the industry itself.
John's later opportunities at John Deere involved work in wholesale finance, customer support,and a number of sales and marketing assignments. He spent much of his early career in the southeastern U.S., where he said he learned that if one really wants to know what is going on in the business and on Main Street, you have to be directly involved, experience it for yourself, and be in the middle of the action. Reading or hearing about how things are from a distance isn’t nearly the same.
John's career at John Deere concluded early in 2020, after having worked in Moline, Illinois, for 20 years. He retired as a general sales manager with the Corporate Business Division. That portion of his career involved leading a team of professionals who were focused on helping meet the unique needs of and selling to a select group of large and very large North American customers with assistance of John Deere dealers. For years, he was directly involved in leading various marketing campaigns, including large-scale customer and dealer relationship-building events at the corporate headquarters in and around Moline, the Demonstration Site in Sacaton, Arizona, and elsewhere. During that time, John became involved with PCCA and served on the ARTBA Board of Directors. He said that his experience living and working in many different places helped him develop deep appreciation for the goodness that exists in people everywhere.
John said that he has benefitted from many mentors in his life—importantly his Dad, who worked for farm equipment manufacturer New Holland and was a member of the Virginia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame. John said that his father taught him a great deal, including the importance of honesty, integrity, working hard, responding quickly, maintaining a good reputation, and striving to lead with kindness. Another very important mentor was Roger Mohr, director of the John Deere Corporate Business Division. John said that Mohr emphasized the importance of building and maintaining personal relationships, always being available, listening carefully to be able to understand and respond to customer needs, and doing what you say you’re going to do, among other things.
John said that his life and working career have been enriched tremendously by the patience, encouragement, and support he has received from his family. Throughout most of his career, hiswife, Gale, stayed behind to help raise their children and manage the home. He said that he was very grateful when she was eventually able to join him at PCCA events and enjoyed participating in the activities and getting to know so many good people in the organization. John and Galehave four children: Amanda, in Asheville, N.C., Evan, in Phoenix, Ariz., Eric, in Denver, Colo.,and Andrea, near Cincinnati, Ohio, and four grandchildren living in Asheville and Phoenix.
The first PCCA meeting John attended was held in Hershey, Pa., not far from where he grew up. He said that he found the members to be welcoming, friendly, and kind. Subsequent meetings were educational and informative. He said that early on it was evident that the PCCA was under effective and skilled leadership and was a growing and forward-looking organization—having a very positive impact on the industry. John Fluharty invited him to join the Governmental Affairs Committee, which he called "as a tremendous opportunity." John said that he enjoyed participating in the Washington-based meetings with legislators and their staffs and that he felt like we were having favorable influence over legislation impacting our industry. John was also atwo-time member of the PCCA Board of Directors. John cited Dan Levac's often-repeated line,“You get out of PCCA what you put into it.” He called it a simple statement, but one that hefound to be very true.
Outside of work, John is a Master Gardener, growing roses, fruit, and vegetables. Throughout much of his life, he has been active in the United Methodist Church and enjoyed teaching a middle school Sunday School class for many years in Bettendorf, Iowa.
John is a graduate of Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania and Duke University, Durham, N.C., and he loves the Philadelphia Phillies and Eagles.
Since retiring from John Deere career, John has obtained a Class A Commercial Driver’s License, and later, he and Gale retired to life adjacent to family farm property in southwestern Virginia. Since then, he has been working full time for Giles County on special projects,including development of a water/wastewater registered apprenticeship program for local students, securing Virginia Telecommunications Initiative funding for local broadband expansion and deployment, supporting efforts of ISPs seeking BEAD project funding for local projects, and securing Federal Railroad Administration funding to improve safety at highest priority highway-rail grade crossings in his county. He also serves as vice mayor and member of the Narrows, Virginia Town Council.