Board Advisor

Board Advisor

The majority of John’s career has been in the private sector. During 25 years with Cadbury, he held several director positions. He was managing director of ITnet Ltd, the Cadbury Schweppes Group’s internal management services business, which he led to win major contracts outside of the group before it was sold.

He held several commercial roles within the group’s major businesses, including marketing director of Cadbury Ltd and managing director of Trebor Bassett Ltd. He also worked as a director in the group’s strategy and mergers and acquisitions functions, and was group IT director for an interim period. Since leaving Cadbury, John has held non-executive positions in private, private/public and public sector organisations, including holding four chair positions.

His involvement with the NHS started 10 years ago when he joined South Birmingham Primary Care Trust as a non-executive director, subsequently becoming chair of the audit committee, and then joining the combined Birmingham Primary Care Trust Board. He is also chairman of two NHS LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust programme) companies. He has broad business experience, bringing commercial, general management and business strategy skills to the CSU.

He also has considerable expertise in board governance and effectiveness. His role on the board of the CSU is to critically challenge the executive team on strategy, governance and the development of the organisation, ensuring continuing focus on delivering objectives to meet the needs of NHS customers.