John is a co-founder of MEP and has over 35 years of experience in European business recovery and transformation, much of it in the retail and consumer sectors. Prior to joining MEP, John was Executive Chairman of Somerfield plc, a publicly quoted food retailer in the UK which was acquired by a consortium in December 2005. John was directly responsible for overseeing the turnaround of Somerfield, creating a total shareholder return in excess of 300% in five years.

Prior to Somerfield, John was the CEO of Budgens, a leading UK convenience chain where from 1991 to 2000 he successfully transformed the business from losses to a very profitable operation producing profit improvements of 15 – 20% annually.

John is currently Chairman of Thorntons plc and Chairman of BUT SAS.