John Balean is the Operations Manager at Topfoto, UK, which has an archive of 5 million images, primarily from acquired 20th Century press photo history collections. At Topfoto, John has been the project coordinator for 4 EU funded projects and involved in several internal projects, including a UK funded grant to move the archive during the Covid pandemic in 2020. John is the current Chair of PICSEL, a UK collecting society for photographic rights holders and a Steering Committee member and consultant at Photoconsortium, where he is currently working on the EUreka3D and EUreka3D-XR projects, supported by the EC, to promote the 3D digital transformation of Cultural Heritage. He is also editing Rules for Describing Photographic and Audiovisual Archives for the Photographic and Audiovisual Archives Working Group of the International Council on Archives Between 2012 and 2021 John was on the boards of both BAPLA and CEPIC