John was born in the small market town of Cottingham in Yorkshire, about 4 miles north of the bustling seaport of Hull. Yorkshire is probably the Brit equivalent of Texas,. Yorkshire folk are very independent and, as the saying goes, "Yo can allus tell a Yorkshireman, but yo canna tell him mich".
That’s enough ancient history for now! At the age of 2 John moved with his parents to the big city and settled in the north London suburb of Harrow. His father was employed by the Distiller Company (DCL) which at the time was one of the largest distillers of Scotch whisky, including Johnnie Walker, Vat 69, White Horse and Dewar’s. Some say that is how he inherited his love of a good Scotch!
He attended Salford University in Greater Manchester and after four years he earned his BSc in Electrical Engineering and got a job with Texas Instruments in the incredibly sleepy town of Bedford, about 50 miles north of London. In 1973 he married his high school sweetheart, who he divorced 5 years later.
Somewhat coincidentally at the same time he was offered a 2-year contract to relocate to Dallas. Back then H1B visas were much easier to obtain so he packed up and moved to the USA in January 1979.
By 1983 things were looking pretty good and with the help of an army of TI lawyers he finally got his Green Card (actually blue back then), got married for a third time and inherited a ready-made family of teenagers.
John and TI parted ways in 1994 and, after spending a couple of years with Habitat for Humanity, he worked for a number of IT consulting companies. In 2009 he started his own company, Hebley & Associates, consulting and training small teams in agile software project management. After years of travelling all over the country he finally retired in 2021 and devoted his time to managing the North Texas Irish Festival.
John has been involved in the NTIF almost since it’s beginning, initially as a visitor, then serving beer and finally as Managing Director. He has also been the Treasurer of the SCMA for longer than he can remember, and is currently the treasurer of the IAS and his local Neighborhood Association.
That’s enough ancient history for now! At the age of 2 John moved with his parents to the big city and settled in the north London suburb of Harrow. His father was employed by the Distiller Company (DCL) which at the time was one of the largest distillers of Scotch whisky, including Johnnie Walker, Vat 69, White Horse and Dewar’s. Some say that is how he inherited his love of a good Scotch!
He attended Salford University in Greater Manchester and after four years he earned his BSc in Electrical Engineering and got a job with Texas Instruments in the incredibly sleepy town of Bedford, about 50 miles north of London. In 1973 he married his high school sweetheart, who he divorced 5 years later.
Somewhat coincidentally at the same time he was offered a 2-year contract to relocate to Dallas. Back then H1B visas were much easier to obtain so he packed up and moved to the USA in January 1979.
By 1983 things were looking pretty good and with the help of an army of TI lawyers he finally got his Green Card (actually blue back then), got married for a third time and inherited a ready-made family of teenagers.
John and TI parted ways in 1994 and, after spending a couple of years with Habitat for Humanity, he worked for a number of IT consulting companies. In 2009 he started his own company, Hebley & Associates, consulting and training small teams in agile software project management. After years of travelling all over the country he finally retired in 2021 and devoted his time to managing the North Texas Irish Festival.
John has been involved in the NTIF almost since it’s beginning, initially as a visitor, then serving beer and finally as Managing Director. He has also been the Treasurer of the SCMA for longer than he can remember, and is currently the treasurer of the IAS and his local Neighborhood Association.
