After graduating from Indiana University with bachelor of science degrees in Accounting and in Finance, John joined the Indianapolis office of Deloitte & Touche as a tax consultant. While there, he worked closely with Deloitte's tax experts in serving the tax consulting and preparation needs of some of Indiana's largest businesses. He also assisted in the development and implementation of the tax preparation software that Deloitte uses in all of its United States offices. In 2005, John left Deloitte and joined the Indianapolis office of Alerding & Co, LLC. While at that firm, he served somewhat smaller businesses and their owners in their tax consulting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and other accounting needs. In October 2007, John founded Schaaf CPA Group.

Along with his wife, Lisa, and children, John is a resident of Westfield, Indiana. John is a member of the Indiana CPA Society and serves on the board of directors of Wings for West Africa, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing computer technology to underserved communities in West Africa. John also chairs the Westfield Farmers Market Committee and was recently named Westfield’s outstanding volunteer of the year by the Westfield Chamber of Commerce for that work.