IAN JAMES

Ian graduated in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Leeds in 1981 and spent 10 years as a design engineer in the early days of computer networking. He completed an MSc. in Engineering Business Management from the University of Warwick and in 1996, relocated to Stockholm to work at Swedish mobile telecoms giant, Ericsson in positions ranging from project manager to strategic marketing adviser.

In 2004, Ian moved with Ericsson to South Africa as a business consultant, advising top-tier mobile operators throughout sub-Saharan Africa on launch strategies for mobile Internet applications. In 2009 Ian left the corporate world to retrain as an executive coach and started his own coaching practice. He also held the position of Programme Director for ICT at GIBS – the business school of the University of Pretoria – before returning to the UK and the University of Surrey in 2015.