John is currently the Regional Manager, Central North Region of the Ministry of Education, a post he took up in June 2001, where he has had involvement in a number of Iwi education partnerships and continues to work on the governance level of a number of these partnerships.
Prior to that, he was the Principal of Motueka High School from 1989 to 2001, where he helped establish programmes to achieve better educational outcomes for Maori students and boys. During this time he was also National President for the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand. He has also been involved in writing and research on leadership, and has worked extensively with the Christchurch College of Education as a writer and tutor in the New Zealand Diploma of Educational Management.