Ian qualified as a chartered accountant with Touche Ross in 1990 and has since worked in a variety of audit, assurance and accountancy roles in both the public and private sectors. He worked as an external auditor for Touche Ross and the District Audit Service of the Audit Commission and as an internal audit manager in local government and the National Health Service.

He joined HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) in 1999 and became Head of Institutional Risk in February 2009 and Head of Assurance in September 2012. At HEFCE Ian managed the assurance team overseeing the financial health risk assessments of higher education providers across England. Ian left HEFCE in Summer 2017 since when he has been providing audit and risk services on a contract and consultancy basis including the insurance and health sectors.

Ian has a strong professional interest in corporate governance, risk management and counter fraud as well as a personal passion to see young people develop their talents and succeed in their chosen field of endeavour.