“Musician. Educator. Technologist. A lifelong rhythm of creativity and innovation.”

Johnny was born in Amory, Mississippi. He attended and graduated from Amory Public Schools in 1982. Johnny attended Itawamba Community College. Johnny played percussion and drums for Kaleidoscope and served as Drum Captain in the “All American Band”. After ICC, he then enrolled in North East Louisiana University and continued Music Education studies. Johnny returned to his home state to complete his degree at the University of Mississippi. There he sat as the drummer for “The Mississippians” and served as drum captain for “The Pride of the South” Marching Band. Johnny received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1987.

After graduating from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Music, Johnny found employment with Tupelo Public Schools as Lawhon Junior High Band Director and Tupelo High School Assistant Band Director. He was employed in 1988 with Tupelo Schools and became very intrigued with computers, in particular, music on computers around 1995. In 1996, Johnny was awarded an Association of Excellence in Education Grant to integrate MIDI Music and Music Technology into the fine arts curriculum, which ultimately led to summer enrichment curriculum activities for Tupelo Schools. In 1997, he served as the district’s Web Site and Electronic Groupware Technologist.

In 1998, seeking to follow technology’s lead, he became an assistant network administrator with The Peoples Bank & Trust Company (Now Renasant Bank). Johnny worked for the bank during Y2K. In the spring of 2000, he joined RedMagnet Technologies, a multi-business merger startup company.

In February 2001, Johnny founded Active DataComm®, a business technology sales, service, and support company that currently serves the greater Lee County and Northeast Mississippi area. Active DataComm® specializes in computer sales, service, network administration, security, website/e-mail design, maintenance, and hosting. After 23 years of serving its valued customers, Active DataComm was acquired by Vitality South of Tupelo, MS, and now offers its customers the same computer and network management services.

Johnny also enjoys performing as a musician for organizations such as the North MS Symphony Orchestra, Tupelo Community Theatre, Stars Over Mississippi, Tupelo Charity Ball, and Tupelo Fantasia Ball, and freelancing as a drummer.