Born to a single mother, John was adopted by a Colorado Springs couple when he was just a month old. His father would pass away when he was in high school, his mother during his first year of law school. Yet he went on to excel, graduating magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Government in 1974 and from the University of Colorado Law School in 1977.
After graduation from law school, he began his career as a prosecutor, serving as a deputy and chief deputy district attorney in Colorado Springs. During his time in the district attorney's office he headed the Economic Crime Division of the DA's office and co-authored a nationally published book on consumer fraud and white-collar crime.
In January of 1981, John entered private practice where he served as a litigation partner in the firm of Sparks Dix, P.C., until November of 1988, when he defeated an incumbent to be elected District Attorney of the Fourth Judicial District. He would serve two terms as the top prosecutor for the district made up of El Paso County.
After finishing his second term as District Attorney John was appointed Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Corrections by Governor Bill Owens. As head of the Colorado correctional system, he was in charge of an organization with almost 6,000 employees and an annual operational budget of approximately $500 million.
On July 30, 2001, Suthers was nominated by President George W. Bush to be the United States Attorney for the District of Colorado. He was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. As U.S. Attorney, he was the federal prosecutor for Colorado, representing the United States in all criminal and civil matters within the District of Colorado.
On January 4, 2005, Suthers was appointed Attorney General of Colorado. After serving as Attorney General for nearly two years, in November 2006, the voters of Colorado elected him by a large margin to serve a four-year term. As Attorney General, he represents and defends the interests of the People of the State of Colorado and is chief legal counsel and advisor to state government and its many state agencies, boards and commissions. In his tenure as Attorney General, John has initiated successful programs to protect children from Internet predators and to combat mortgage and foreclosure fraud. He has successfully resolved Colorado's largest hazardous waste site litigations and personally argued a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in his efforts to protect 'every drop' of our precious water resources for the residents of Colorado.
John has served on the board of numerous civic organizations. He has served as President of the El Paso County Bar Association and as Senior Vice President of the Colorado Bar Association. He served as President of the Colorado District Attorney's Council and he was appointed by the Colorado legislature to serve as a Colorado delegate to the National Conference on Uniform State Laws. In the Summer of 2000, he received a Gates Foundation Fellowship to attend the Government Executives Program at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
John and his wife, Janet, have been married for 33 years and have two daughters, Alison, a lawyer in Denver, and Kate, a graduate business student and Lieutenant in the Navy Reserve in Honolulu. He has authored five books, including his most recent, No Higher Calling, No Greater Responsibility: A Prosecutor Makes His Case.
