John Varley OBE TD

John Varley OBE TD joined Clinton Devon Estates as Chief Executive in 2000 after a very varied career in senior management with BT plc, mainly in the global and operations divisions.  John’s roles included responsibility for BT’s routes to the USA and Middle East, advertising and marketing for the international division, BT’s $10bn Joint Venture with AT&T and leading a field operations division of over 3,000 in Scotland.

Since 2009, John has been a Board Member of the Environment Agency, to 2021 (Chair of the £3bn EA Pension Fund to 2014), and Chair of the “Varley Review” – the Network Rail Vegetation Management Review for the Government’s Rail Minister. John is a member of the Steering Group for the Royal Society’s “Living Landscapes Programme” aiming to inform a long term vision for how the UK manages its land.

John was an independent member of the Lawton Review, “Making Space for Nature”, in 2010, which was a major influence on the Government’s Natural Environment White Paper.  In March 2011 John was appointed to the Defra Independent Forestry Panel, which made recommendations to Government on the future of forestry in England and in September 2011 he was appointed as a judge on the Government’s Nature Improvement Area Competition Panel. John has served as a board member for Natural England, the Commission for Rural Communities and the Countryside Agency. He has chaired and been a member of a number of Government audit and risk committees.  Between 2015 and 2017 John chaired the Estates Business Group of major urban and rural estates.

Until 2002, John spent 22 years as an officer in the Territorial Army, Royal Artillery, in his “spare time”. John is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies and the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 1991 and appointed OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours List for services to agriculture, environment and the rural community.