John is a Senior Advisor to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. He was engaged in law enforcement for half a century. As a Detective, he investigated murders and other serious crime but also dealt with human rights abuse in Scotland’s maximum-security prison.

In 1997, John moved to Switzerland, handling anti-smuggling, fraud and organized crime issues for the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), ultimately becoming Chief of Enforcement. During 14 years with CITES he conducted 234 missions to 66 countries, assessing enforcement in the field and designing strategies to tackle wildlife trafficking.

He was instrumental in establishing the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime in 2010, a partnership of CITES, INTERPOL, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Bank and the World Customs Organization. He formally retired in 2011 but, since then, has served as an advisor/consultant to, among several others, the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights, UNODC, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Transparency International.