Education
University of Cambridge.
University of Cambridge.
He is chairman of The National Theatre. After being educated at Repton School and completing his degree at Cambridge University, John started working as a journalist, first at Reuters and then at the Financial Times, where he edited the influential "Lex" column. From there he moved to Saatchi and Saatchi"s United States holding company, before co-founding Makinson Cowell, a specialist independent financial consultancy firm.
After five years, he returned to the Financial Times to become its managing director, before accepting a job as the Pearson Group finance director, where he worked until moving to the Penguin Group, a subsidiary of the Pearson Group.
He was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Penguin Group (worldwide) from 2002 to 2013. In addition to being Chairman of Penguin Random House and the National Theatre, Makinson is a director of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian organisation.
He has used his knowledge of business to help compile a report for the British government, called Incentives for Change, and received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 for his services to public sector productivity. He was also photographed by Harry Borden for the National Portrait Gallery in Britain.