Sir John became Chairman of Severn Trent 2005 and is deputy lieutenant of the County of Warwickshire and Chancellor of Coventry University.

He worked in the motor industry until 1990 at General Motors, Massey Ferguson and British Leyland, rising to become Chairman and Chief Executive of Jaguar plc. He was Chief Executive of BAA plc from 1990 to 1999 and Chairman of MEPC from 1998 to 2000. He was also President of the Confederation of British Industry from 2002 to 2004.

Sir John commented "I'm delighted to be joining the Coventry Heritage & Arts Trust at such a critical time in its history. The board, management team and staff work tirelessly to bring arts and history to life for the people of Coventry and over the last year have achieved amazing results with visitor figures reaching nearly 300,000. We now wish to keep the momentum of this good start going and fully realise the vision to engage, encourage participation and reach out to the local communities with a relevant, inspiring and meaningful cultural experience. I very much look forward to being part of this work".