John Grieve has a diverse and varied background of professional experience in private and public sector organisations. He grew up in small mining and fishing towns and worked with British Steel in Lanarkshire before studying agriculture at the East of Scotland College and Edinburgh School of Agriculture. He spent a number of years in farm management positions in the Scottish Borders before joining the former Agricultural Training Board as Training Adviser for Cheshire. He is professionally qualified in Training and Development through the Institute of Training and Development. In 1993 John moved into wider rural development through the position of Development Officer for the Angus Glens before taking up the post of Rural Development Contracts Manager and Leader II Programme Manager for Tayside. John moved into consultancy as a Director of Ekos Ltd. in 1999 and subsequently founded The Rural Development Company in early 2002.

John has specific expertise in Rural Development policy and practice and in EU Structural Fund and rural programmes and initiatives; his work in programme and project development and evaluation is informed by his practical background and experience. As a professionally qualified trainer he is skilled in a number of participative research approaches. John has very extensive specialist experience of the EC LEADER Community Initiative, particularly Leader+ Programme and the mainstreaming of the method in the 2007 - 2013 Rural Development Programme. John has been heavily involved in the development of new Leader Programmes in both Scotland and England. He is contracted by the European Rural Observatory as a thematic expert and has recently become the lead expert for the UK, Republic of Ireland and Malta in DG Agricultures Rural Evaluation Network.