John Kerslake

John Kerslake joined the RSPCA in January 2020 as director of field operations. John was appointed as Chris Sherwood's deputy, RSPCA chief operating officer in November 2020. He is responsible for the Inspectorate, as well as the other Field Operations functions.

Previously John worked for the National Citizen Service (NCS), where he was chief operations officer

Before joining NCS, John spent 25 years working in the private sector: leading sales and commercial teams at Cadbury for 15 years, followed by 10 years at Whitbread working across the sales, HR and operations functions for brands including Premier Inn, Beefeater and Costa, both in the UK and overseas. John's last role at Whitbread was as UK Operations Director for Costa where he led a team of 15,000 across 1,400 coffee shops.

John has a passion for developing people, building great teams and delivery.

Originally from Bath, Somerset, John studied at the University of Plymouth and now lives in South Warwickshire. He is the proud owner of his first dog, Brody.