John became Chairman of Rouse in 2020. Formerly a non-principal director for the firm, he began his career as a diplomat, both in the Foreign Office in London and in the British Embassy in Tokyo. He then worked in investment banking in London and Tokyo, successively as a Director of Barings, Morgan Grenfell, Deutsche Bank and Barchester Group, and in venture capital in San Francisco, as a General Partner at Hambrecht & Quist.  He has extensive board experience in the UK, US and Japan, and is currently also a non-executive director of Macallan Distillers, and Chairman of Eagle E-Types. 

He has written five novels, all published by Simon & Schuster and translated into many languages, and two children’s books.  He has enjoyed considerable involvement in the classical music world; he founded Masterprize, which became the world's leading competition for symphonic composition, conceived and produced the Durham Concerto, composed by Jon Lord of Deep Purple, and commissioned Canto d’Attesa by the distinguished Russian composer, Andrei Golovin.