John Cockcroft has lived and worked in Lao PDR continuously since 2010. He has enjoyed a long and successful career in senior positions managing and directing major heavy civil engineering construction projects and companies around the world. He is a Fellow of both the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK and the American Society of Civil Engineers in the USA. He worked as a contractor for the first 30+ years after graduation, and for owners and their consulting engineers since the year 2000, working on large hydropower projects in Pakistan, Iceland and Lao PDR. Following completion of the Theun-Hinboun Expansion and Nam Ngiep 1 Hydropower Projects in Lao PDR, he is currently Construction Management Advisor and Contracts and Commercial Director of the Vientiane based developer Chaleun Sekong Energy Company, responsible for work on several ongoing projects at Nam Kong 3, Nam Emoun, Namphak and Nam Theun 1.

In parallel with employment that has taken him to over 35 countries on 4 continents, and residence in the UK, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Kenya, Egypt, the USA, Pakistan, Iceland and Lao PDR, John has held voluntary positions as an officer or Board member in numerous organisations in the places he has resided. These include being a Board member of the Federation of Piling Contractors and Examiner of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the UK, Chairman of the Creek Football Club in Dubai and the Tarbela Dam Golf Club in Pakistan, and Board member of the Engineering Institute of Thailand and the Deep Foundations Institute in the USA. John Cockcroft joined the British Business Group in Lao PDR in 2018 after he returned to Vientiane following being site-based on projects and became its Chairman in December 2019.
As a former international footballer and team captain as a student and then as a part-time professional in the UK, and still a tennis player and golfer today, John retains a strong interest in all sports as well as a keen business sense in a number of trade sectors.
You can reach John on john.cockcroft@bbglao.org or learn more about his professional background by connecting on LinkedIn.