John Zurn was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and grew up in a family of nine outside of Philadelphia. He attended Meadowbrook School and William Penn Charter School, both independent schools in Philadelphia. John earned his bachelor’s degree in English at Williams College in Massachusetts and his master’s degree in Educational Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania.

After college, John returned for three years to his alma mater, Meadowbrook School, where he taught fourth, fifth and sixth grades. At various times, he also taught drama, middle school writing, physical education, coached a variety of sports and served as the school’s athletic director. From 1980 – 1982, he taught fourth grade at the American International School of Lisbon.

In 1982, John returned to the States to complete his master’s degree. While completing his degree, he worked at St. Peter’s School in downtown Philadelphia. After receiving his degree, he served as lower school director at the Woodlynde School in Strafford, Pennsylvania where he opened grades K - 5 in an existing grade 6 - 12 school.

In 1989, John was appointed headmaster at St. John’s Episcopal School, a K-8 school in Olney, Maryland. Over a twenty year career there John led efforts to more than double the school’s enrollment. He raised funds and constructed wings that tripled the size of the plant space. He increased fundraising tenfold and worked with five board chairs to organize, educate, develop, and inspire trustees. John led St. John’s through three strategic planning processes and two ten -year accreditation cycles. He introduced Traits for Success, a school-wide character building program and initiated National Schools Research and Summer Grants Programs for faculty and administration development. He worked with faculty and administration to define core academic programs (reading, writing, math) as the leading edge of school success. He taught Environmental Studies, Writing, the American Revolution, and Student Leadership. He was instrumental in developing signature educational programs including Traits for Success, Global Citizenship, World Village, International Festival and Multi-Cultural Fair, Environmental Studies, Declamation Day Poetry Recitation, and Model UN. In 2009, St. John’s Episcopal School was chosen by the National Association of Independent Schools as one of nineteen model independent schools across the world for its Global Education Resources Program.

John has served on several independent school and independent school association boards. He is the parent of two sons, Josh, a senior journalism major at Ohio State University, and Alexander, a freshman basketball player at Gettysburg College. His passions include basketball, golf, art, sailing, travel, and the Philadelphia Phillies.