As a young adult with excellent math skills, John’s father encouraged his son to go after a suitable profession that aligned with his skillset. At 17, John began his training and qualified as a Chartered Accountant, which he saw as an opportunity to work abroad down the road. “At the age of 23 I went for an interview, accompanied by my then 19 year old fiancée, now wife for 50 years, with Price Waterhouse in The Netherlands,” says John. “Since then I have worked and lived in The Netherlands, Canada, The UK and, at the age of 60, moved to Asia. I have also traveled for work throughout Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. Not many jobs provide that opportunity!”
His greatest accomplishments
As a former Senior Partner at Mazars in the UK and having spent 37 years with the firm, John believes that his greatest accomplishment is having a hand in the merger with Mazars & Guerard. In 1996 John became National Senior Partner when the firm was still Neville Russell. At the time he inherited responsibility for a well-established National Practice, which others had founded and developed over a period of 96 years. It was during that time that the Lloyd’s Insurance Market was experiencing dramatic change, and thus led to a serious question of the firm’s future in the market.
In early 1998, John along with other leaders met with Mazars & Guerard to engage in merger discussions. “The UK partnership of 90 partners voted in a secret ballot on the proposal and 89 voted in favour and one obstained,” says John. “No one voted against.” It was in July 1998 that Neville Russell officially merged with the European Partnership of Mazars. John contributed to the successful merger strategy that took the integrated partnership to a global level enabling it to serve global clients and reposition the UK firm in the market. “It contributed a platform for what Mazars is today,” says John.
John (right) in 2008 with Patrick de Cambourg (middle), then President of Mazars and David Evans (left), then UK Senior Partner. The image is from the 10th Anniversary celebration of UK joining Mazars.
Influencing a people-first culture
At the age of 19, John set a personal goal to achieve a senior position in a firm so that he could influence how people were treated. He recalls the early styles of leadership in professional firms having taught him more about what was wrong than right. John says, “I have always believed in the people-first culture where people are respected as individuals, leadership is serving others, and work is a means of providing individuals a platform for personal improvement, fulfillment and self-esteem, along with being a means of earning money.”
John joined Neville Russell (now Mazars in the UK) in 1976, where it was his responsibility to build on the people-first culture and ensure that it flourished. He introduced “Investors in People”, a Government sponsored programme to bring disciplines and external review into the People Development arena. “We were the first national accounting firm to have all our offices accredited as an ‘Investor in People’ and had to be maintained annually.”
John at the Mazars Ho Chi Min, Vietnam office with Jean Marc Deschamps and office staff, 2007
Mazars Singapore for a ten pin bowling event, 2011
Mazars Singapore office party in 2012 with office managing partner Denis Usher
Values that live on
The values that John experienced while at Mazars continue to ring true to this day such as commitment to quality, client service, compassion and caring of people in the broadest sense, and respect for the individual with a genuine love of diversity. “A rich tapestry of people of all genders, nationalities, colours, cultures and faiths – the greater the varieties the richer the composition.”
He emphasizes the importance for everyone to play a part in maintaining those values. “They need to be protected and nurtured by ongoing initiatives to ensure each succeeding generation buy in and continue to give them reality,” says John. “They can never be just assumed.”
John (pictured right) in 2010 with his son Daniel (pictured left) who is currently a Partner at Mazars London
Present day
Today, John continues to work with Mazars as a consultant and his work extends across continents. He closes with several key pieces of wisdom for readers. His advice is:
“never stop learning, always have a mentor, seek to understand others before expecting them to understand you, and leave a legacy – and have fun while doing it!”
During his free time, you can find John reading all different genres of books, cooking for his family, making dresses for his wife or making curtains, and walking with his two Australian Labradoodles Digby and Remy.