Much of John’s two decades years of media experience has involved building up consultancies’ media practices.
A Partner in Oliver Wyman’s London office, John has worked extensively with media organizations in the US, Europe, and the Middle East on topics including improving commercial performance, expanding into new geographies, pan regional advertising effectiveness, digital transformation, and organizational redesign. In addition, John has advised private equity and sovereign wealth funds on investments in the sector.
A real turning point for John was when he first started working overseas. Living in France, the UK, and the Middle East gave him a newfound international perspective to his consulting work. He has since developed a particular niche around serving news providers and has become one of the best-known advisors for 24 hours news globally. John has often served as an advisor to incumbent media companies, guiding them on embracing digital and reshaping their organizations to compete.
If you thought media was undergoing tremendous change in the past three years, the next couple will see a real clear out in a lot of the players and consolidation going forward
Reflecting on the current state of media, John notes the dramatic changes that the coronavirus pandemic forced on the sector. “It’s an unprecedented time for advertising media companies. The market has essentially been demolished on that side of the business. On the other hand, what we’ve seen is a real fast growth around digital, particularly direct to consumer players,” he says.
A graduate of Georgetown University’s Foreign Service School and Harvard Business School, John worked at a few management consultancies before joining Oliver Wyman. In between these roles, he was awarded a Council on Foreign Relations Fellowship and served as a Senior Economic Advisors for the Middle East to Colin Powell (under Secretary Alan Larson) at the US State Department.
John devotes most of his spare time to his three children. He also likes to play tennis and travel. “When my wife and I first met, we travelled for two months and retraced the Silk Road, across central Asia, Iran, and China.”