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John Santanella grew up in Enfield. He lived with his family in a modest home on Mitchell Drive and went through the public school. system; Enfield Street School, JFK, Enfield High.  After graduation he worked his way through school parking cars at a valet lot at Bradley International AirPort while attending Holyoke Community College. After graduating with an associates degree and a 4.0 GPA, John was accepted to Boston College on a partial academic scholarship. He graduated from Boston College in 1990 and began work at the Travelers Insurance Company in Hartford. Shortly thereafter he got a job working at a boutique law firm in Washington, DC where he discovered he was not destined to be a lawyer. He then applied and was accepted to the Carroll School of Management at Boston College where he earned his MBA in Marketing and Finance. 

Upon graduation from Business school John got his first job as an associate brand manager at Parker Brothers, a board game division of Hasbro, Inc. John was a standout at his job and quickly rose through the ranks. He was a full Brand Manager after a year and was given an assignment T Hasbro’s European headquarters in London where he worked for the next two years leading the pan European marketing and product development efforts on Hasbro’s classic preschool and Children’s brands. 

After his assignment was completed John was assigned back in the US to be the North American Marketing Director at Milton Bradley in East Longmeadow, MA. For the next four years John help grow the Milton Bradley business by double digits and honed his skills as a negotiator from working on large scales entertainment properties from George Lucas, the Walt Disney Company, Paramount Pictures, Sony Entertainment, and Universal Studios.  

In the mid 2000’s John took a job at the Nickelodeon TV Network as the Vice President of Toy Licensing before returning to Hasbro in 2008 to be the Vice President or Marketing for Hasbro’s Playskool division. 

In the wake of the recession, John was laid off from Hasbro in a corporate downsizing. At that point he set out to start his own investment company. Since then John has been constantly buying and selling small businesses in a variety of industry categories. In some cases taking an active roll in the management of the business and in others acting as an advisor or consultant to the management team. 

In 2017, on a visit home to Enfield, he noticed a house that he always loved as a kid was up for sale. He bought it and moved home to be closer to family and friends. 

In 2019 John made an unsuccessful attempt to run for Town Council as a petitioning candidate. He lost and two years later he ran again on the Democratic ticket. 

John has served as Enfield’s Town Councilor from the Second District since November 2, 2021 and is currently the Democratic Minority Leader. 

Over the last three years John Has been fighting for education, support for our police, championed fiscal responsibility, promoted economic development, and worked to reduce blight in the community.

In May of 2022, John introduced the first resolution to allow a pride flag to be displayed on Town Hall during the month of June in support and recognition or the LGBTQ community. That resolution was subsequently overturned my the current Town Council. 

John continues to be an outspoken member of the council on all matters shaping the future direction of Enfield. He continues to believe our schools are the cornerstone of the  community, that our neighborhoods need to be a safe place for our children to play, for families to walk and for our community to enjoy. 

In his campaign for the State Legislature John is committed to continuing to fight for our kids and education as well as legislation that promotes business around the state, especially small business, as well as those key issues affecting business and working families such as affordable health care, child care, and housing.

To learn more, visit www.johnsantanella.org 

Contact: Kari Monteforte
(860) 982-0835 

klmonteforte@gmail.com