John May is the Secretary General of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award International Association, which co-ordinates and develops the Award worldwide, as well as upholding the principles and standards of the Award Programme.    The Award is an exciting self-development programme available to all 14 to 25 year olds.

Trained as a primary school teacher, John has worked with children and young people in a variety of situations, ranging from schools in suburban England to refugee camps in Uganda.   He became a Headteacher at 28, going on to develop a reputation for regenerating underperforming schools.   John has since been the national Education Director of Business in the Community, and Chief Executive for Career Academies UK and for Young Enterprise.

John is a former non-executive director of UNICEF; is a judge of the TES Schools awards, helped to found ‘Teach First’ and is currently Vice Chairman of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.   He writes, speaks and broadcasts on a number of education related matters.  

In 2008, John received The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in recognition of his long-standing dedication to enterprise education.  In 2009, he received the Freedom of the City of London.

John's spare time interests include Scouting, long-distance running, hill-walking, theatre, good food, and attempting, usually unsuccessfully, to visit the gym regularly