Research Associate of OCRC

John’s achievements in both the academic and business worlds are extensive and – having participated in work, research and speaking tours in 99 countries – John is regarded as one of the leading experts in his field. His pioneering approach has led to achievements such as: leading the first sale of shares for a microfinance bank to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan at K-REP in Kenya.

John is chairman of Cadence Innova, a change management consulting firm based in London. Before joining Saïd Business School at University of Oxford and becoming the Director of the Centre on Business and Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, John had a twenty-year career in equity investing, venture capital, consulting and investment banking. His work has had a particular focus on Employee Stock Ownership Plans. As founder and CEO of his own investment-banking firm, he helped employees buy and manage approximately $2.2 billion worth of ESOP stock. He sold his firm to American Capital, which then went public. John left American Capital as Senior Investment Officer when the company reached $1 billion in assets. After leaving American Capital, John was Vice President at Ampersand Ventures, formerly Paine Webber’s private equity group. Earlier in his career, after he finished his PhD at Stanford University, he was a consultant at Bain & Company. John has written extensively about business and finance.