Sir John Harman is currently Chairman of the Environment Agency, which he has served, first as a Board member and then as Deputy Chairman since its inception in 1996.
A teacher by profession, he had nearly twenty years experience in local government including thirteen years as leader of Kirklees Metropolitan Council. In 1999 he became the first leader of the Regional Assembly for Yorkshire and Humberside.
He was Vice Chairman of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities from 1992 until the formation of the Local Government Association in 1997, when he became a Deputy Leader of the Labour Group.
He received a knighthood in June 1997 in recognition of his services to local government and the environment. In addition to a wide range of professional interests, he is Chairman of Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd, which operates the Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield; a Director of the Energy Saving Trust; a member of the Council of RSA; a member of the Board of Trustees for the National Coal Mining Museum; Chairman of the Steering Group for the Institute of Government and Public Management at the University of Warwick; and has recently become a Board member of the National School of Government.