John has over 30 years’ experience in the property, transport and regeneration sectors, reporting at Board level in a FTSE scale business. He has delivered significant value creation to the business, working directly with Government and Local Government Leaders. He is a skilled negotiator, having experience in delivering property development, property management and strategic direction in complex stakeholder environments.

John joined Manchester Airport in 1990 as a Planning Manager and, after a series of promotions was appointed Strategy and Development Director and then Acting Managing Director of Manchester Airport Developments Limited. He was appointed Managing Director of Manchester Airport Group (MAG) Developments and a Director of Airport City Manchester Limited JV Company in 2009 and remained in that role for 6 years. MAG Developments is the property management and development business of the MAG companies - a £3- 4bn asset value business owned by the 10 districts of Greater Manchester and IFM Australian Pension Fund). A separate Property Board operates and includes the £850m Airport City project at Manchester Airport, a flagship Enterprise Zone.

John led this project from initiation to forming the Joint Venture delivery partnership in 2013. The project has been developed through close collaboration with a number of stakeholders including Manchester City Council’s Chief Executive- Sir Howard Bernstein, Central Government Departments, local MPs including The Chancellor -George Osborne, and the surrounding community. A £650m property portfolio was developed across all Group Airports including large scale logistics projects at Manchester and East Midlands.

After leaving MAG in 2015, John founded Atkins Property, a specialist strategic consultancy for large scale complex infrastructure projects where significant value can be created around the infrastructure assets. The range of assets include ports, airports, rail stations, and motorway junctions. John has spent the last five years advising the Wilky Group on their development of Gatwick Green. In addition, John is a Non-Exec Director of One Manchester Housing Group and Chairs their Development Company.