SJS News

Each year at the Alumni Dinner during Alumni Weekend, the Saint James School Alumni Council honors an alumnus or alumna whose life reflects outstanding service to the school and to society. The Council considers all facets of a nominee’s life since leaving Saint James, with particular attention to meaningful service to the school—as a Class Agent, Trustee, Alumni Council member, or in other roles that help strengthen the Saint James community for future generations.

This year, the Outstanding Alumni Award was presented to John B. Hoke ’03, a devoted alumnus and current member of the Saint James Board of Trustees.

The award recognizes not only John’s professional accomplishments, but also his long-standing commitment to Saint James—a commitment rooted in gratitude, affection, and a belief in the school’s enduring mission.

John came to Saint James from Martinsburg, West Virginia. His mother, a longtime teacher in Washington County, had heard about the school years before he enrolled. 

“I remember her saying, something like, ‘I’ve heard that Father Dunnan is doing extraordinary things, and we’d like to look at Saint James for you when the time comes,’” he said.

That decision became especially meaningful after John’s father died when John was in seventh grade. An only child, John experienced a difficult loss at a formative age, and his mother saw Saint James as a place where he could begin again.

“I think my mom, who is wonderful and just an incredible parent, saw Saint James as a way to hit the reset button for me,” John said. 

Saint James became a place of healing, growth, and belonging.

“The school really put me back together,” John said. “The school and Father Dunnan, in particular, helped me process what it meant to lose a parent when you’re 12. I feel very grateful that I had that.”

As a student, John embraced the full life of the school. He played soccer and lacrosse, served as a tour guide, worked on stage crew, and performed in the brass ensemble. He earned academic honors and was inducted into the Cum Laude Society. In his sixth form year, he was elected prefect and served in Hershey Hall (now Mattingly Hall).

That final year remains one of his strongest SJS memories. Though he had been a day student for most of his time at the school, John boarded as a sixth former, serving as a prefect for younger students who were also learning the rhythms of boarding life.

“It was fun because for most of the Hershey boys, it was their first year boarding too,” he said. “We were all learning boarding life together. It really felt like a brotherhood.”

After graduating from Saint James, John attended Davidson College, where he earned a B.A. with Honors in history in 2007. He studied British and European history, spent a summer at Corpus Christi College at Cambridge through a Davidson program, and later studied at the London School of Economics.

After Davidson, John moved to Washington, D.C., where he interned on Capitol Hill for Senator Ted Kennedy in the education policy office of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He then worked as a legal assistant in the bankruptcy group at White & Case during the financial crisis.

John went on to earn his J.D., magna cum laude, from the College of William and Mary in 2013. He then joined McGuireWoods, an international law firm, where he now practices as a partner in the Charlotte office. His work focuses on mergers and acquisitions, venture capital and corporate governance. He was recently selected for inclusion on Business North Carolina’s 2025 Legal Elite list.

John describes his legal practice as an ideal fit for someone shaped by a liberal arts education.

 “It’s a very liberal arts type of practice because you have to have a broad spectrum of knowledge about a lot of different things,” he said. “I think it keeps things interesting.”

He also enjoys the cooperative nature of transactional law. 

“Our job is to work collaboratively with the opposing counsel to keep everyone happy and get a deal done and build something,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed the constructive aspect of what I do.”

John’s professional life is complemented by service to his local community in Charlotte. He serves as a regional board member for Out Teach, a national nonprofit that supports outdoor experiential learning by providing education programs for teachers. He also does significant pro bono work for education-related nonprofits and is an active member of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

John and his wife, Patricia, live in Charlotte with their three sons. The family’s connection to Saint James continues across generations and distance. During Alumni Weekend, John brought his two older sons to chapel. What he thought would be a brief service turned into a full Eucharist, and he wondered how the boys would respond. Instead, his oldest son, Jack, was captivated by the choir.

“At one point in the service, Jack said to John, ‘So wait, I can go to Saint James?’” John recalled. “And I said, ‘If you want to.’ And Jack said, ‘I want to go to Saint James.’ John remembers thinking to himself, “OK, my work here is done.”

John’s formal service to Saint James began with two terms on the Alumni Council from 2011 to 2017. He was later recruited to join the Board of Trustees as part of the Young Alumni initiative and is now serving his third term as a Trustee.

The reason he continues to serve is simple: Saint James feels like home.

“It’s always been a home for me, really,” he said. At a Board retreat last year, trustees were asked to share one word that described Saint James. “Overwhelmingly, most of the trustees said home.” 

His devotion is also tied to what he believes Saint James does uniquely well: educate the whole person.

“The real magic of Saint James is that we educate the whole person,” he said. “Obviously, we our students to grow academically and athletically while they are here, but the school’s commitment to educating and caring for the whole person is really sincere and is what makes this place so special.”

That commitment, John believes, distinguishes Saint James from many peer schools.

“We don’t just pay lip service to that,” he said. “We really mean it.”

He sees the result in graduates who are balanced, grounded, and deeply connected to others. 

“They have deep, meaningful relationships with their peers, with younger kids, with adults—all the things that you hope a fully formed person has,” he said.

As he looks toward the school’s future, John is optimistic. He sees a beautiful campus, remarkable students, strong momentum, and a rising generation of faculty and alumni who will shape Saint James for years to come.

For John, supporting Saint James is not simply an act of loyalty to the past. It is an investment in a mission he believes will matter even more in the future.

“As the world gets more automated and AI does more thinking for us, our focus on a comprehensive experience at Saint James will be even more valuable,” he said.

The Outstanding Alumni Award honors a life of distinction and service. Saint James celebrates John as an alumnus whose professional accomplishments, community service, and devotion to the school reflect the best of what Saint James hopes to inspire in its graduates.

“I think back on my mom’s choice to send me to Saint James, and it’s one of the best choices, if not the best, she ever made for me,” he said.

Now, through his service as a Trustee, John is helping ensure that future generations of students have the same opportunity: to find a place that challenges them, supports them, and, for many, becomes home.