Member and Trustee
John is a highly skilled governor and has also previously held the chair of governors role at Tuxford Academy. In his professional capacity he is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a retired accountant, having held a number of director level roles in the commercial sector. John’s corporate background has proved extremely useful during periods of change, including the complete overhaul of the management and governance systems within Diverse Academies. He has also previously served as a governor and the chair of governors at Tuxford Academy.
John is a mathematics graduate from Manchester University. He qualified as an accountant at Touche Ross & Co (now Deloittes) and progressed to senior manager before leaving to join a client company, Sandell Perkins, as finance director. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1986 and subsequently acquired Travis & Arnold, another listed PLC, to form the present day FTSE 100 Group, Travis Perkins.
In 1991, John was recruited by Sir Lewis Robertson, a renowned ‘company doctor’ as finance director of the Lilley Plc, based in Glasgow, to try to restructure and refinance the ailing international construction, housing and property development group. John used his extensive corporate finance skills in his position as a consultant to Ennemix Ltd, a sand and gravel extraction company in financial difficulty. The company was restructured and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1995 and he remained as finance director prior to its sale to Lafarge.
In 1996 John joined McNicholas Plc as finance and human resources director. The group had a number of subsidiary companies involved in construction, demolition and utility maintenance contracts. His role was to restructure the group under a new holding company with divisions specialising in providing services to utility groups. The group was eventually sold to Skanska.