John trained as a Chartered Accountant and performed senior finance and general management roles in Barclays and Boots before joining becoming CFO at NEC Group, the UK-based exhibition, conference and entertainment venue manager.

In 2006 John was appointed COO at NEC Group, with broad responsibilities for finance, procurement, human resources, marketing, operations, IT and health and safety. He led several major real estate transactions and was central in managing the sale of NEC Group to private equity owners in 2015 and a subsequent secondary sale in 2018.

John now has a portfolio of non-executive positions in organisations backed by private equity funds as well as pro-bono charity trustee appointments.