Ian is a seasoned veteran in Business Awards judging with more than two decades of viewing applications UK wide and credits his ‘colourful life’ and no nonsense, pragmatic approach, to business and life in general as adequate credentials to be on this panel. Despite a very busy and full life he is a Bedfordshire Business Ambassador, a volunteer Enterprise Adviser working with SEMLEP and The Careers & Enterprise Company where he is part of a dedicated team building a talent pipeline through employer engagement with the student population, primarily year 12’s in Bedfordshire county and the wider region. Out of school rather earlier than some he bizarrely started his adult life as a butcher’s apprentice. Thereafter a period of ten years in the public service in various departments allowed him to catch up on his education and then make the leap into the world of business by starting a Planning & Architectural Practice business 33 years ago. Additionally, this past 10 years, Ian and his wife Birute embraced Network Marketing as a business model so much so they now spend much of their time travelling both in the UK and abroad training, coaching and mentoring their FM World team and on a ‘volunteer’ basis, a number of young people. A keen ‘crowd fund’ investor Ian still acts in a Planning consultancy capacity for a small, select group of long standing personal clients and manages a modest property portfolio ‘in trust’ for the family. Family is very big on Ian’s agenda, he loves to travel widely and seamlessly mixes business and pleasure because … ‘he can’.