John Sawallisch was born in 1962. After his high school and degree from the commercial college, his professional career began in 1979 with an education as ship broker at Zerssen & Co. Kiel. After his service at the 5th Marine Aircraft Squad Kiel-Holtenau, John became active at the container logistics sector of Unimar Seatransport Hamburg until 1985. From 1985 to 1990, he worked at Jauch & Huebener KGaA (today Aon) last two years in the customer service.
During the following years he was active at Hudig Langeveldt Germany as Director for Marine and in the international client service for Siemens. Later John was Director for Marine Hull, Marine Cargo and P&I at Georg Duncker, and as Director and Branch Manager Hamburg at Wuppesahl (now Willis).
In December of 1997, John founded ATS Hamburg, and since then has been a Managing Partner.