About

Ian creates and transforms digital businesses in retail and publishing.

Ian works to create sizeable and demanding businesses from initial idea, or to effect a step-change within complex, multi-stakeholder enterprises: working with the board and either directly leading teams or mentoring senior internal leaders.

Ian has been responsible for P&Ls from £5m to £400m within organisations of up to £3.3bn turnover. Since 1991 Ian has operated at Board level, either as director, CEO or investor.

Ian now works as an executive (leading business transformation at Board level), non-executive (working with Board and CEOs to build businesses) and investor (founding and growing early-stage companies).

Consulting clients include House of Fraser, Austin Reed, Reiss, Couturelab, Otto UK, The British Council, IPC Media, Westfield Shopping Towns and David Morris.

Ian is committed to skills and peer development within industry sector. Ian founded InternetRetailing (with Mark Pigou), the European eCommerce Forum (with Joris Beckers), the UK’s first Masters (MSc) in Internet Retailing (with Econsultancy.com, accredited by Manchester Metropolitan University) and RetailGreen.eu. Ian is a course assessor for the Masters in Digital Marketing and a tutor on the Post-Graduate Diploma in Digital Publishing.

Ian is a regular keynote speaker and conference chair, providing insight and stimulus on ecommerce, the attention economy, open standards, future developments and today’s demanding digital customers. Recent engagements include Econsultancy (Digital Shorts, Future of Digital Marketing) Adobe/Scene 7, Bazaarvoice, Sky, London College of Fashion, the International Association of Department Stores, the Danish eCommerce Association (FDIH), BBDO University and Google UK. [Speaking archive].

Ian’s skills encompass technology (Chartered IT Professional, Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society), marketing, commerce and finance (Chartered Accountant) and business-wide innovation.

Previously he was Group E-commerce Director for Littlewoods Shop Direct Group where he grew online revenues to £400m per annum. Before that Ian was Head of Online Operations at the BBC, establishing the team that built over 400 BBC websites. Ian was also Business Development Director for Thomson Science & Professional, is a non-executive Director of Business Link for London, and founder of the European eCommerce Forum.

When not tending his olive tree Ian can be found at www.innoparticularorder.com.