John Zitzner biography: 13 things about Cleveland, Ohio man

John Zitzner is an American retired entrepreneur from Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He was one of the 160 people arrested when Operation Buyer’s Remorse, a human trafficking crackdown throughout Ohio, was conducted from September 25-30, 2023.

As part of the operations, officers from Westlake, Ohio posted an advertisement online. Zitzner responded and agreed to pay $60 for sex.

The undercover officers instructed Zitzner to meet them at a hotel room on Clemons Road in Westlake on September 28, 2023. With $377 and an Apple iPhone, he appeared at around 3:00 p.m. and was arrested.

Zitzner is the brother of Stewart Zitzner and Thea White, who was best known for voicing Muriel Bagge on the Cartoon Network series “Courage the Cowardly Dog”. On July 30, 2021, White died at age 81.

John is married to Peg Zitzner. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. He is 2 years younger than Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) founder Steve Mariotti. He traces his journey to education back to hearing Mariotti speak at a conference.
2. From 1973 to 1977, he attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business.
3. In 1983, he founded a software firm called Bradley Company in Cleveland. In 1998, Xerox Corporation acquired the firm.
4. In January 2002, he founded the Entrepreneurship: Connecting, Inspiring and Teaching Youth (E CITY) program. He served as its president until May 2008.
5. In January 2005, he became the president of Friends of Breakthrough, a network of nonprofit, public charter schools in Cleveland. He did not work directly for the schools. From January 2005 to August 2011, he was the president of Friends of E Prep Schools.
6. In August 2006, he and Marshall Emerson III opened Entrepreneurship Preparatory School (E Prep) with 125 sixth-graders. E Prep was the first charter school in Cleveland to be sponsored by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
7. In August 2009, he founded a grade K-5 elementary school called Village Preparatory School.
8. In July 2011, he talked to TEDx Cleveland.
9. In 2014, he and Peg rented a studio apartment at Crittenden Court on West St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland.
10. In March 2015, he was honored with the Homer C. Wadsworth Award.
11. In April 2020, he explained the Friends of Breakthrough schools’ online learning plan in between passing out Chromebooks to students at the E Prep downtown campus.
12. On September 28, 2023, Westlake Police Department officers charged him with engaging in prostitution.
13. He was 68 years old when resigned on September 29, 2023 from his position as Friends of Breakthrough president.