John is an experienced company director, senior executive and general manager who most recently delivered one of the first commercial biogas plants in the UK to successful operation. Previously John had a successful track record in managing manufacturing operations, capital projects, supply chain and strategic purchasing in the chemical industry for Rhodia SA, Albright & Wilson and ICI over a 30 year career in that sector.

As global manufacturing director for Rhodia’s phosphates and P4 derivatives businesses John ran 21 high-hazard manufacturing sites around the world with a collective turnover of some €3bn annually.  

John has substantial experience in M&A activities, having been involved in deals from small $5m sales to $200m divestments at all stages from pre-deal due diligence, through deal negotiation and contracts, through to post-deal implementation. He has a particular expertise in the tricky area of successfully dividing large, integrated sites between multiple owners, having both created and negotiated workable contracts and managed the actual separation processes on several occasions.

John has experience of a wide range of process plant from world-scale continuous process plant at ICI through to small fine chemical and pharmaceutical batch plant. He managed a corporate engineering function for A&W, managed global phosphorus sourcing for Rhodia, and played a leading role in crucial restructuring and cost reduction projects both before and after the acquisition of A&W by Rhodia.

John is particularly experienced in driving improvements in manufacturing plants via debottlenecking, optimisation and low-cost expansions, having many times unlocked hidden potential in existing plants thought to be sold out.

John also has extensive experience in dealing with unions, governments and regulatory bodies, and the media in both routine and crisis situations. At one stage John formed and led an ad-hoc industry group of phosphorus users to successfully oppose an anti-dumping action brought by a major phosphorus supplier which threatened to deny access to low-cost supplies of the material. He has also overseen several major production site closures and rationalisations.