Ian Ryder

With over 30 years international experience and formerly Director of Global Brand Strategy for Hewlett Packard in California (HP Invent), Ian now has a portfolio which includes NED and Board Adviser roles, consulting on business sakes, as well as his pro-bono charity work, speaking engagements and guest lecturing. Two recent Chairman positions include Romonet Ltd, a world-leading software and services company operating in the data centre analytics market, and DCD Group Ltd, for three years. Current Chairman of Buzzword Ltd, a marketing services company. Ian spent several years in Palo Alto California with Hewlett Packard and includes roles of CEO for Uffindell, a medium-sized brand consulting company, Senior Corporate Vice-President for Unisys Corporation and Deputy Group CEO responsible for the relaunch of BSC, The Chartered Institute of IT in his extensive career.

Ian was a subject specialist reviewer for Harvard Business School Press and a Visiting Professor for the Stockholm School of Economics and Thunderbird Business School in the USA, a guest lecturer at Manchester and Reading Business Schools, and the Management Institute de Paris, France and sat on the Advisory Board for Cranfield's MSc Strategic Marketing Programme for 5 years before doing a full term as External Examiner for this programme. Ian is now a Visiting Professor at Cranfield and External Examiner for the Masters in Management degree which is ranked 7th in the world, and also the Masters in Management Leadership. A graduate of IMD in Lausanne, he has held senior marketing roles in several major technology companies and has provided independent strategy advice to many other companies inside and outside the technology industry. International speaker at more than 200 events across 4 continents, Chairman, author and lecturer on the subjects of business and brand strategy, reputation and customer management, and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ian has pioneered some breakthrough thinking in marketing and the role of CRM, CSR and "responsible brands".

Ian was also a non-executive adviser to the British Olympic Association, and did a complete business transformation there which led to the strategy for TeamGB. He is a fellow of the CIM, RSA, IoD and BCS, sits on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Brand Management, the Global Academic Liaison Board of CMO Council and was Chairman of the Technology Industry Business Leaders Group for The Marketing Society and Chairman of the Conference Board's European Council on Customer Strategy. Ian is also a Freeman of the City of London and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors, sitting on Court as a Chairman of the Livery Committee. Author, co-author and contributor to many books and published works, and a founding Director of The Medinge Group, a global brand think-tank, two of his co-authored books include "Beyond Branding" (see www.beyond-branding.com) and "Securing the Business Benefits of Globalisation".