• John McCandlessNeighbor

  • Grosse Pointe, MI

CAPT John G. McCandless, USN (Ret), retired from the U.S. Navy in June 1999 after 32 years of active and reserve service.

His civilian career was focused on automotive public relations. He retired as a senior member of Toyota’s U.S. Corporate Communications team in October 2011. As the National Manager – Field Operations, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. (TMS), he oversaw the company’s regional corporate communications offices in Detroit, New York, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Seattle. Upon his retirement, he established Road Reports, an automotive information and PR counseling firm. He also is a founding member and vice president of the Michigan Armed Forces Hospitality Center, Inc., (www.MIFreedomCenter.org) a 501(c)3 organization, which established Freedom Center at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Veterans Day 2011. Freedom Center is a military lounge for the 9,000 plus military who transit through DTW every month. In addition, he is chairman of the USS DETROIT (LCS 7) Commissioning Committee, which supporting the crew of this new Littoral Combat Ship and her commissioning in Detroit in 2016.

McCandless is a frequent contributor to the OpEd pages, including THE DETROIT NEWS, as well as an active participant in the Department of Defense Bloggers Roundtable (dodlive.mil), Navy Memorial Foundation blog (navymemorial.org) and other blog sites.

His professional affiliations include the Automotive Press Association (Detroit), the Detroit Press Club, the Naples Press Club, the U. S. Naval Institute, the Navy Memorial Foundation, the Navy League of the United States, the International Propeller Club, as well as numerous veteran service organizations.

A native of Detroit, McCandless earned a B.A. in Communication from Michigan State University in June 1969. Upon graduation, he was commissioned an Ensign in the US Naval Reserve. After active duty assignments on board the aircraft carrier USS AMERICA (CVA 66) and at the Pentagon, he remained in the Navy Reserve, retiring in 1999 as a Captain after 32 years of service. In the Reserve, he commanded four Naval Public Affairs units in Detroit, Chicago and Great Lakes, Illinois and headed the media training team for senior Naval officers.

He has been a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Detroit/Mercy, the Naval War College, as well as various professional organizations.

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