Tommy Johns has a hard time deciding: is he an entertainer with a passion for teaching who makes a great living doing both?  Or is he an educator with an unquenchable desire to entertain while running several successful related businesses?  Or is he a businessman who has found a way to make a career out of entertaining AND teaching?

He is the founder of Tommy Johns Presents, a company that produces educationally significant school assembly programs and other workshops that inspire children and young people to read.

His professional affiliations demonstrate his commitment to reading, education, and entertainment.

His Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in education and years in front of a classroom have equipped him to teach children (and adults) in a fun, meaningful way and he knows how to make a message stick.  His education and experience are evident from the moment he begins talking to the audience, even before the program begins.

Using the stage as his classroom, he uses all the entertainment tools in his toolbox to motivate and teach important facts and concepts about business, goal-setting or more while instilling the value of reading in his audience. 

An avid reader himself, Tommy believes that with the right books, good readers can learn to do just about anything, meet all kinds of people, and have all sorts of adventures.  Growing up in a small town in Alabama, Tommy and his family would go across the river to West Point, Georgia to the closest library to check out books.  (It's not THAT dramatic - there was a bridge and it was only 10 miles away!) He got in more trouble reading than anything else he did while growing up (reading during math class, reading under the covers after lights out, reading in church)!  When he tells his audiences that he LOVES to read, he means it!

At the tender age of five, when Tommy was asked to sing his first solo in church, he became enamored with the stage.  He acted in school, church and later college dramas, sang and played guitar in talent shows, and performed magic for his Cub Scout group.  In college, he studied magic with a pro, and in 1977 performed his first paid magic show for children.  He has sought training in the arts of puppetry, improvisation and comedy, and has been entertaining, educating and inspiring children for over thirty years.  He has been a full time performer since 2001, currently doing over 500 shows per year.

Tommy is married to Linda, a former college English instructor who is now an elementary school media specialist.  They have two sons, both of whom were AR champs in elementary school, and are still recreational readers.  Andy is a reporter for the Chattanooga Times-Free Press, and Adam is a film student at Florida State University, hoping to be a famous (and rich) screenwriter or director. Tommy and Linda live in Roswell, Georgia with their three mixed breed dogs, Boomer, Missy and Bucky.