After graduating with a degree in European Business from Nottingham Polytechnic in 1990 Johannes joined Pannel Kerr Forster in Nottingham as a trainee Chartered Accountant. Luckily he was offered the job of Managing Director of Aircotronic Ltd in December 1992, before he had to subject himself to the torture of the final exams. Aircotronic Ltd sold, installed and maintained pneumatic tube systems as an exclusive UK distributor of Delta Com GmbH, Germany. Johannes was appointed to build, establish, develop and manage the newly formed company. He drove the sales and tender processes to win new contracts in many NHS hospitals and later he was successful in securing several sole supplier agreements with prestigious retail clients while taking full responsibility for all aspects of commercial and operational management activities. Johannes managed the due diligence phase for the sale of the company to Swisslog AG in August 2000 and became a key member of the Swisslog UK management committee in January 2001.

The owners of Delta Com GmbH, which was an international wholesaler of pneumatic tube systems based in Germany, appointed Johannes in 1997 to champion a turnaround of the company into a profitable operation. He conducted a full strategic overview to implement a drastic cost reduction programme, including the outsourcing of production to Poland. He doubled sales within two years by establishing a structure to effectively support an international network of distribution partners. Again, he managed the due diligence for the sale of the company to Swisslog AG in August 2000 and the subsequent merger with Swisslog Walther Rohrposttechnik GmbH in January 2002.

In 1999 Johannes set up QB Vision Ltd which dealt with the distribution of highly sophisticated Virtual Reality products, mainly for the construction industry. By attending industry trade fairs to raise awareness of the potential of the products he secured several high level contacts and was in the final stages of closing some very prestigious contracts, when the Austrian producer of the software filed for bankruptcy in December 2000.

In March 2003 Johannes, feeling a need to be away from traditional corporate life, left Swisslog and, together with his wife Ruth, set up Peak Strategies, an independent Business Consultancy providing hands-on support to small and medium sized business. He also became an Executive Associate of the Institute for Independent Business and a member of Initiatives for Business Development.