John Shirley

John Shirley has a diverse work experience spanning over three decades. John began their career as an Area Sales Representative for Primo Furniture PLC in 1987, working in the field sales in SW England. In 1988, they became the Sales and Marketing Director for Architectural Ceramics Limited, where they successfully doubled turnover and reduced manufacturing costs.

In 1991, John joined The Jenkins Group as the Business Development Manager, where they researched, wrote, presented, and negotiated proposals for various projects, achieving successes that led to their division being ahead of target. John also played a key role in marketing planning and implementation across Europe, implementing new business development strategies, presenting to prospects, and costing and negotiating proposals.

John's career continued to progress as they became the Principal Consultant at Brons Marketing Communications in 1993. John worked with agencies in Somerset and London, opening new doors for product packaging, corporate literature and communications, and video production. John also delved into new media, developing CD-ROM projects and websites.

In 1999, John joined Iconography Ltd as the Business Development Director and eventually became the Managing Director. John was responsible for developing the company's strategic business plan, implementing company policy, maintaining dialogue between shareholders and the board, controlling finance, building an effective management team, and assuming full accountability for all company operations. John successfully won multiple new contracts, including B2B veterinary portal development, international corporate website work, and communication projects for government agencies.

In 2004, John co-founded Hark, a company that provided innovative digital catalogue solutions primarily for manufacturing brands in the outdoor apparel and equipment sector. Over fifteen years, they played a significant role as the Sales and Marketing Director, helping many companies with their adoption of digital catalogues and product information management challenges.

John's most recent work experience is with Neural Edge, where they are the Operations Director and Co-Founder. The company focuses on data-driven search marketing, providing an intelligent approach that gives brands an edge. They aim to attract better quality website visitors, drive more organic traffic, increase conversion rates, build trust with the target audience, and generate more enquiries and sales.

Overall, John Shirley's work experience showcases their expertise in sales, marketing, business development, strategic planning, and team leadership.

John Shirley's education history is as follows:

From 1982 to 1986, John attended the University of East Anglia, where they obtained a BA Hons degree in European History.

In 1986 and 1987, John attended the Université Côte d'Azur, where they earned a Certificate in European Law.

From 1991 to 1992, John studied at CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing, focusing on Marketing.

In 2003, John attended the Institute of Directors (IoD) to study the Role of the Managing Director.

In 2011, John enrolled in the Executive Program at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management to concentrate on Business Marketing Strategy.

Additionally, John obtained the certification for AI for Everyone: Master the Basics from edX in December 2022.