John Aneralla is a proven business and community leader in North Mecklenburg and across North Carolina with a decades-long record of service to his community, his church, and the conservative cause.
Most recently, John served three terms as Mayor of Huntersville from 2015 to 2021 where he prioritized fiscal responsibility, promoting job creation, and public safety. Under John’s leadership, Huntersville sold over $5 Million of town-owned property, reduced town debt, reformed or eliminated burdensome and unnecessary regulations, and passed six consecutive balanced budgets with no property tax increases.
During his tenure as Mayor, Huntersville was consistently named both one of the best places to live in North Carolina and one of North Carolina’s safest towns.
John is the founder of two successful small businesses. In 1997, after moving to Huntersville, John established Buttonwood Advisory Group, Inc., an investor relations consulting firm for small publicly traded companies. He has consulted for public and private companies in a broad range of industries, including aerospace, computer equipment, and software, consumer products, manufacturing, medical technology, and telecommunications until 2012. Then in the fall of 2004, he established Bulldog Asset Management, Inc., an investment advisory firm specializing in asset allocation to achieve individual client needs.
John has also put his 35 years of experience in the financial industry to work for the people of North Carolina. He served five years as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Local Government Employees’ Retirement System and the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System, the 10th largest public pension fund in the country. Additionally, he sits on the Investment Advisory Committee for the North Carolina pension system.
A dedicated community leader and volunteer, John has a proven record of service to the Huntersville and Lake Norman communities.
He has served as President of the Lake Norman Kiwanis Club, Lieutenant Governor of the Carolinas Region of Kiwanis International, and as chair of the Lake Norman Kiwanis committee that brought a new splash park to Smithville Park in Cornelius. Through his membership at Davidson United Methodist Church, John has taught Sunday school and volunteered for a variety of charities. In 2008, he received the Empowerment Community Award from the Westside Organization for his charity work with New Outreach Ministry.
John has been fighting to protect our conservative principles and values for over 25 years. He first entered the fray in 1994 when Nancy and John, with their daughter Amanda on their backs in a child carrier, went door to door canvassing for conservative candidates. John continued to volunteer at the precinct level and became Chair of the Mecklenburg County Republican Party in 2004. As Chair, John jumped feet first into the battle to protect the integrity of our elections assembling and training an army of attorneys and volunteers who worked across the county to protect the vote. John would go on to serve as Chair of the 9th Congressional District Republican Party, and as the Republican nominee for NC Senate in 2010. He was inducted into the North Carolina GOP Hall of Fame in 2019.
A lifelong competitive swimmer, John has been active in coaching at all levels of competition. John has also served as a volunteer coach for Davidson College, MAC Masters, Mecklenburg Aquatic Club, the Community School of Davidson Middle School Swim Team, and the Birkdale Neighborhood Swim Team. He also helped establish two swim leagues in North Meck and was a member of the SwimMAC Capital Campaign. Additionally, John has served as a volunteer coach for numerous basketball and soccer teams in the Huntersville area and is a past President of the North Meck Soccer Club, now the Charlotte Independence.
John and Nancy, his wife of 32 years, have lived and raised their family in Huntersville over the past 24 years. Their daughter Amanda is a graduate of North Carolina State University currently working for Atrium as a project research manager in Charlotte. Their son Bennett is a graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy, currently the Executive Officer on the Fast Response Cutter Robert Ward, stationed in Long Beach, CA. John grew up in Huntington Station, NY where he learned the value of hard work. He is a 1984 graduate of the University of Georgia, attending on a full athletic swimming scholarship and earned his MBA in management from Hofstra University in 1986.
