Extensive operational & management experience

John was born and brought up in London and graduated in Engineering Sciences from Oxford University in 1971.  He then pursued a career for 20 years in oil and gas exploration and production with the Royal Dutch/Shell Group, working in UK, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria and Holland.  In the early 1990s, he spent 3 years in Shell’s Group Human Resources leadership team in London.  

In 1994, he was seconded to Australia’s largest listed oil and gas company, Woodside Petroleum Ltd, based in Western Australia, which is 34% owned by Royal Dutch/Shell, to implement a major cost reduction and performance improvement programme.  He resigned from Shell in 1996 in order to take up the position of Woodside’s CEO and Managing Director, which position he held until August 2003.  

Woodside is the operator of Australia’s largest resource project, the North West Shelf Joint venture.  In addition to producing oil and gas for domestic consumption, the North West Shelf Joint venture processes and delivers over 15 million tonnes per year of LNG to Japan and China.

During his period at Woodside, the company moved from being a single project company to be operator of more than 40 oil and gas joint ventures in Australia, USA, Libya and Mauritania.   He was also led the successful defense of the company against two take-over attempts by its significant share holder, Shell.


Chairman, Managing Director & Board Member

He is a former director of Oil Search Limited and chairman of Alinta Limited.  He currently holds directorships of CSL Limited, the global blood products and pharmaceuticals group, Coogee Resources Limited, a Perth based oil and gas start-up and Biostarch Australia Pty Ltd, which has invented a biodegradable film to replace plastic supermarket bags.


Board Member Rerserve Bank, Australia's Central Bank

He was recently appointed to the Board of Australia’s Central Bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is independently charged by the Federal Government with the setting of monetary policy and interest rates.


Professor of Leadership, Business School of UNWA

He is a director of the Business School of the University of Western Australia, where he is adjunct Professor of Leadership, & of Youth Focus, a voluntary organization devoted to the prevention of youth suicide in Western Australia.