Ceri John
Interim COO and Operations Director
I take over operations when a business needs to cut costs, reorganise or scale delivery. I make the changes while the business keeps running.
For CEOs, boards and investors in private equity-backed and infrastructure businesses: telecoms, digital infrastructure, energy, utilities and defence.
I'm COO of Voneus Broadband until the end of October 2026, and available to start in late November or early December.
At Voneus, operating costs halved
Voneus Broadband is a private equity-backed UK altnet. I joined as Director of Deployment in January 2024 and became COO in December 2025.
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Operating costs | £6.4M | £3.2M |
| Operational functions merged into one directorate | 6 | 1 |
| Premises ready for service | 40,000 | 99,500 |
| Live activations, net of churn | 7,800 | 19,800 |
- I set up an offshore network operations centre for 24/7 cover at lower cost.
- I built the KPI and governance framework the exec team uses to run the operation.
Before Voneus
I've done the same job in telecoms, oil and gas, commodity trading and the Army, at very different scales.
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2023 to 2024
Head of Business Delivery (B2B), Virgin Media O2
Over 3,000 B2B and major programme circuits a year across southern UK. I merged engineering, business installs and project management into one national delivery function in six months.
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2021 to 2023
Head of Programmes, Network Expansion, Virgin Media O2
I led 15 programme and project managers on a portfolio that delivered £80-100M of revenue in 2022.
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2016 to 2021
Programme and operations consultant, Diamond Edge Solutions
My own company. I built and led the $1M logistics operations centre supporting Chevron's $5.2Bn Tengizchevroil programme in Kazakhstan, with over $50M of programme savings. Chevron's central project leadership teams recognised it as best in class, and their senior executives visited it when travelling through the UK. I designed logistics frameworks for Worley's projects in Korea and Russia, and recovered a failing delivery partner on a 1,600-circuit Virgin Media programme, securing £24M of revenue.
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2015 to 2016
Assistant Director, Global Operations, Noble Group
In the Base Metals division, I led the programme that implemented the working capital reduction, from $2.5Bn to $800M.
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1993 to 2014
British Army, Royal Logistic Corps
Commissioned from Sandhurst. I served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Oman, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Falklands, and commanded a squadron. My last post was Chief of Operations of the US Army's 7th Transportation Brigade, on exchange.
When to call me
- The programme is behind plan and the recovery dates keep moving.
- Costs are running over and nobody can say exactly where.
- Delivery partners are missing targets, or the claims are piling up.
- The day job is slipping while the change takes everyone's attention.
If two of these are true, the operation needs running while it changes. That's the job I do.
Three ways to work with me
Interim
Full-time, for a fixed period.
Fractional
A set number of days a month, ongoing.
Fixed-scope programme
We agree the outcome, and how we'll measure it, before I start.
I contract all work through GBA Consultants Ltd, my company. I'm also open to the right permanent COO role.
How I work
I'm not a strategy consultant. I run the operation while it changes.
I set the outcome and leave the method to the person who owns the area. I want risks raised early, with options and a recommendation. A miss is fine if you flagged it in time. A late surprise isn't.
Qualifications
- MBA, The Open University
- CMI Level 8, Strategic Leadership and Direction, Manchester Business School
- Chartered Member, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport
- Fellow, Institute of Leadership and Management
- Member, Chartered Management Institute
- Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land)
- PRINCE2 Practitioner
I also recruit for delivery programmes
Project, programme, PMO and commissioning people, for programmes in telecoms, logistics, energy, data centres and infrastructure. I've managed the kinds of teams I recruit for, so I know what good looks like.
Tell me what's changing
And what isn't working. I'll tell you straight whether I'm the right fit.
- Book a call
- Based in Northamptonshire