John Estey

John H. Estey is an attorney who served as chief of staff to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell from 2003 until 2007.^[1][2] He served as interim president of the Milton Hershey School for the 2013–2014 school year and served as executive vice president – administration at Hershey Trust Company, in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Before joining Hershey Trust Company, Estey was a partner at Ballard Spahr LLP in Philadelphia, where he was a co-chair of the Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs Group.^[3] He has served as the chairman of the board of commissioners of the Delaware River Port Authority and as chairman of the board of directors of the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority^[4] He served as chairman of board of directors of the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia,^[5] and as a member of the boards of directors of the Gettysburg Foundation and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.^[6]

He was named to the Pennsylvania Report "PA Report 100" list of politically influential personalities in 2003.^[7]

He was named to the PoliticsPA "Power 50" list.^[8] In 2010, Politics Magazine named him one of the "Top 10 Democrats" in Pennsylvania.^[9]

In May 2016, he was charged with wire fraud, having pocketed $13,000 that an FBI sting operation had given to him in an investigation into illegal lobbying of legislators.^[10][11] On May 10, 2016, he pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud, committed in 2011. On February 23, 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court disbarred Estey.^{[citation needed]}; he was reinstated to the practice of law on February 6, 2026.