As Secretary of State for the Environment, the NGO community called him “the best Environment Secretary we ever had”. John went into government from business, where he had first been a publisher and then chairman of a medium sized public company, specializing in distribution and communication resources; in 1997 he returned to his business roots, founding Sancroft to advise companies on their corporate responsibility strategy. In addition to his role at Sancroft, John is also Chairman of the UK Government’s Committee on Climate Change and Chairman of Valpak Limited.