John Harris serves on the executive committee and is the secretary for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame’s Board of Governors.

He is a partner in Performance pH, which utilizes a variety of people-oriented strategies to help employers improve business performance, and serves as the chairman of HERO. He has over 40 years of experience in the health management field in both the corporate and private sectors. Considered a wellness pioneer, Harris was the founder of Harris HealthTrends, an entrepreneurial corporation that became one of the top-five wellness companies and helped shape the prevention industry into what it is today.  Harris speaks internationally and has authored numerous publications on employee health while also serving on the boards of Lourdes University, HERO, Mercy Health Partners, the Mercy Health Foundation, Health Promotion Advocates, and a number of for-profit businesses.

As a college wrestler at Grand Valley State, Harris was a two-time All-American and competed in the U.S. Olympics Trials in 1976. Today, he competes in mountain bike races in the summer and cross-country (Nordic) ski races in the winter. He also enjoys road bicycling, downhill skiing and kayaking.

Why is it important to be involved with the National Wrestling Hall of Fame? 

Second only to family, wrestling has defined my life and made me who I am. As such, I want to play a role in preserving our history, recognizing our many champions, and inspiring future generations to embrace our sport as wrestlers, coaches, fans and supporters. This is the mission of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame of which I am an eager to support with both my time and treasures.  

How did you find the sport of wrestling? 

Growing up I always liked rough-and-tumble things to do, including an occasional fight. However, I was also one of the smallest kids in my neighborhood and in my grade. Back then there was no wrestling or even many martial arts programs. So when I heard they had wrestling in seventh grade — I was on it.

You placed second at the NAIA national championships twice. What did you learn from those experiences? 

Let me start by saying that finishing runner-up twice remains one of the biggest disappointments of my life. I still think about it regularly. Yet, life goes on. So for me, the biggest learning was how to shoulder disappointment, do my best to grow from it, and to not let it deter me from other important things to be accomplished in life. At the end of the day, no matter how hard you work, no matter how good your strategy, and no matter how well you execute, there will be disappointments.

How did your participation in wrestling affect your future success in business? 

I think there are two answers to this question. First, referring back to the previous question, perhaps I would not have had the business success that I did if I would have left the sport of wrestling feeling totally fulfilled. Instead, the ghost of wrestling disappointments made me hungry to achieve other things. Second, the tenacity, strategy, persistence, principles, team-orientation, and work ethic required in wrestling are highly applicable in business. On more than one occasion, people have told me they thought they were watching me wrestle a match when I conducted a negotiation or ran an important meeting.

You currently race competitively in mountain biking, road biking, and Nordic skiing. How did wrestling prepare you for those endeavors? 

Competing in athletic events has universal similarities. Through wrestling, I developed the self-discipline to train hard and smart. I also developed the mental toughness to push through no matter how fatigued I might be or how many barriers might be in my way. Wrestling is so strategic. It taught me to always employ and adapt on the fly a well-conceived strategy. I always feel better strategically prepared than most other competitors in bicycle racing and Nordic ski competitions.