John A.C. Drake began his career as Articled Clerk for Peat Marwick and became a Commercial Barrister. He moved onto work as the Director & General Manager of Jardine Engineering in Hong Kong. In the early 1980s he was the General Manager of Plessey Telecommunications Asia and Australia, and then became the Deputy Managing Director of Racal Decca Marine Navigation. He then served as the Managing Director of Chubb Fire, which was part of Racal before moving in 1989 to be the Managing Director of GEC Marconi Transportation, serving in this capacity until 1993. He was appointed the Chief Executive of British Rail Telecommunications in 1993 and stayed in this position until 1996. He has subsequently worked as the Chief Operating Officer for Bird & Bird LLP as well as serving as their Chief Commercial Counsel. He has also served as the Group Managing Director of Simoco International.