John is the former Director of ALNAP.

He oversaw the setting up of the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition and lead work on the first edition of the State of the Humanitarian System Report, the first system-wide commentary of the performance of the humanitarian system.

He has a background in anthropology and nutrition and began his career with the UK Department for International Development and the UN World Food Programme in Ethiopia 1984-86, where he worked as a field monitor.

He went on to direct a cooperative specialising in participatory evaluations and later took up the position of Senior Humanitarian Advisor at the British Red Cross, which included supporting the International Federation of the Red Cross in their work on disaster preparedness. He has been involved in many humanitarian initiatives including the development of therapeutic foods for Oxfam and the design of food security monitoring systems for ActionAid. He also led a coalition of agencies in establishing the Humanitarian Ombudsman Project in 1998, and he is a long-standing member of the Humanitarian Policy Advisory Group.