Florida exec finds new life purpose after being confronted by gunman

St. Petersburg resident John Miles had quite the violent surprise awaiting him when he arrived home from his gym, Orangetheory, one early morning in November 2017. There was a man standing at the top of the stairwell inside his home, staring at Miles. The intruder was holding a gun.

A U.S. Naval Academy graduate who later led teams in combat zones while a commissioned officer, Miles, unarmed, used his military training to avoid the man and run outside. Miles called the police. The man, a maintenance manager in Miles’ rental community, was eventually caught. 

Even for a combat-tough veteran like Miles, then 47, the experience was a life wake up call. Up until that point, first in the military and later in a series of high-level Corporate America posts (one of the youngest vice presidents at Lowe’s, chief information officer at Dell, to name a few) his life, he says, was all about the next step. Some of those jobs, like the one at Dell, and later chief digital officer and head of global operations at St. Pete marketing firm Catalina, paid Miles well into the mid-seven figures annually.