John Slaven was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he claims to have had an idyllic childhood. He is the second of five siblings raised by a stay-at-home mom and a father who was an architect. John attended an all-boys Catholic school through grade and high school and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Cape Town. After graduation, he served the required two years of national service in the Navy before working at DeBeers as a project engineer in the industrial diamond mining business.

John worked with DeBeers for four and a half years before pursuing an advanced MBA. Although he had researched several schools, his wife had suggested Harvard Business School. John submitted his application and was accepted to HBS, so he didn’t apply to other schools.

HBS proved highly beneficial to John as he traversed his career following graduation. After graduation, he worked at Boston Consulting Group in Melbourne, Australia. John spent over nine years with BCG before joining Alcoa as VP of Finance, then joined BHP Billiton, where he served in many roles for thirteen years. John and his family lived on five continents in ten countries and fifteen cities during this time. They moved countries 21 times and moved cities 23 times. Moving an average of every 1.04 years in the past thirty years.

The continual moving proved to be one of his biggest challenges over the years. It was difficult for his daughters to adjust to his constant travel and moving among different schools, and at one point, his wife suffered a complex illness that added to the challenges. Through it all, they have grown close as a family and enjoy spending time together.

John is most proud of his reputation and integrity, which he has held as the most important values in his personal and professional life.

John currently lives in Boulder, Colorado, as a member of a technology start-up. He promises he is staying put and has no plans for future relocations.