John Zaring has 25 years of strategic experience in the entertainment industry. His background involves an integration of event management, sponsorship sales, marketing strategy, television and film production, talent representation and public relations. John most recently produced the Cabo Celebrity Golf Classic, and the FULLTILTPOKER.NET/World Series of Golf for CBS Sports, a high stakes golf event held in Las Vegas at The Mirage and Paiute Golf Resort.
From 1993 through December of 2007, John was President of Zaring/Cioffi Entertainment (ZCE), an event production firm that specialized in celebrity-driven fundraisers. Among ZCE’s properties were Richard Karn StarDays (Seattle, 1993-99), Marg Helgenberger & Alan Rosenberg Celebrity Weekend (Omaha, 1997-2006), Dennis Quaid Charity Weekend (Austin, 2003 – 2007) and NAACP Image Awards (LA, 2005 – 2007). ZCE was purchased on September 27, 2007 by SportsQuest Inc., a publicly traded (symbol: SPQS) sports marketing company based in Orlando.
In college, John interned at the Philadelphia Phillies organization, whetting his appetite for the sports and entertainment. After graduating from Nova University in Ft. Lauderdale, John moved to Los Angeles. In 1985, as a publicist at Wilkinson & Associates, he represented many high-profile television actors including William Devane, Charlene Tilton, Katherine Ross, Jack Coleman and Shannen Doherty, and got his first taste of celebrity events by booking talent for fundraisers.
In 1988, John joined the mgmnt/publicity firm Film Associates, Inc., as Vice President. While there, he counted Dynasty stars Coleman and Emma Samms, and Emmy-nominated Richard Marcus (St. Elsewhere), among his dozen clients. In 1992, John struck out on his own, with a client list that included Coleman (who currently stars on the hit NBC series Heroes) and Marcus (The Pretender), Richard Karn (Home Improvement) and Nicole Eggert (Baywatch). In 1993, he partnered with casting director Bianca Cioffi to form Zaring/Cioffi Entertainment, and added Casey Sander (Grace Under Fire), Kenneth Kimmins (Coach), Charlie Robinson (Love & War) and Emmy winner Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue) as clients. With the creation of a celebrity golf event for Karn in 1993, the firm began producing events, which became its core business in 1999.
John has produced four movies, most recently the independent feature Pursuit of Happiness, a romantic comedy that starred Frank Whaley, Annabeth Gish and Jean Stapleton, which he also wrote. The Martindale Group production was released in theatres in 2002. Other credits include Picture Perfect (ABC), Nervous Ticks (Columbia) and Men of Respect (Columbia). In 2008's General Election, John was campaign manager for Measure SA, a $300M school bond for the Hart School District in Santa Clarita, CA. The bond passed with over 64% of the vote. He is currently a candidate for the Governing Board of the Castaic Union School District. With Bianca Cioffi, his wife of 18 years, John is the proud "dance dad" of Fiona (age 13) and Kylie (age 9). John runs and plays basketball, and is a huge Lakers fan.