About
Professional Summary
John joined Colliers International when the firm acquired The Walker Companies in 2017, where he was a partner for over 25 years. John now leads Colliers Site Selection Services practice, specializing in manufacturing, distribution and e-commerce fulfillment facilities, with responsibility for planning, implementing and managing location consulting engagements including site selection analyses, operating cost studies and incentive negotiations.
He has led site selection and implementation projects for complex, high capital expenditure projects such as steel galvanizing and high capacity power transformer production, as well as traditional distribution and e-commenrce projects. Engagements have been completed for companies such as ArcelorMittal, Gruppo EFACEC, Columbia Sportswear, Aldi and Wolverine Worldwide.
John has 35 years experience in strategic planning and research, and was formerly Director of Economic Development Research at the Georgia Tech Research Institute before co-founding The Walker Companies in 1987. He has spoken widely on labor analytics, labor union threat assessment and site selection of industrial facilities to organizations such as the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), The Material Handling Institute (MODEX), The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), The Logistics Institute, The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), and the Association of American Geographers.
Accomplishments
John developed Colliers proprietary site selection optimization model, Indsite® and directs the firm’s Site Selection Services group. Indsite® is widely recognized as the most comprehensive site selection tool in use today, permitting very quick but highly detailed location analyses anywhere in the United States. Studies quantify and compare investment and operating costs, labor availability and quality, labor union risk, access to critical infrastructure, and operational risk for industrial buildings in user-defined study areas of any size or configuration.
Education
BA-Economics, Hampden-Sydney College
MBA-Wake Forest University