John Kerrigan, Chief Executive Officer at Fowler Welch, was educated at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, from where he took the brave decision to leave to start a career in 1995 with just his GCSE’s. He joined Citibank in London, working his way through various departments before leaving in 1999 to join the Coolchain business in Paddock Wood. Starting as a ‘progress chaser’, after being attracted at the interview to the unknown world of getting products efficiently from suppliers and ports to the supermarket shelf, John swiftly caught the distribution bug. He moved quickly through various roles in the business, finding himself as Operations Manager when the business was acquired by the Dart Group and began to merge with Fowler Welch. In the new and fast growing ‘Fowler Welch Coolchain’ business, John was quickly rewarded with roles as General Manager at Teynham, then Regional General Manager – South, with operational responsibility for two sites on the South Coast and three in Kent.

In April 2009, John was appointed as National Operations Director, based at our Spalding Head Office, taking on responsibility for our day to day operations in Spalding, Washington, Kent, South Coast and Stockport as well as our vehicle fleet. Since then, John has successfully overseen the introduction of our Tesco Express operations in Washington and Newton Abbot, dedicated customer operations in Desborough, Slough, Tipton and Nuneaton, alongside significant growth in our Ambient business necessitating a new 500,000 sq.ft. facility in Heywood.

In 2015, John progressed to the role of Chief Operating Officer. Alongside retaining accountability for our day to day operation and spending a significant amount of his time with our customers, John took control of our IT and Technical teams through their respective Directors covering; IT, SHEQ, Insurance, Procurement, Engineering and Central Administration.

In 2020 John was promoted to Chief Executive Officer, leading the business forward having nurtured a management team that ensures Fowler Welch’s core standards to customers are exceeded and maintains consistent leadership and direction across all operations. Together with other teams in the business, they help ensure the business delivers the company’s core beliefs of “Listening, Responding and Delivering” – both for customers and colleagues alike.