Ian Ayling is a seasoned business leader with a career defined by curiosity, discovery, and delivering tangible results—cumulatively driving around £2bn growth across commercial and not-for-profit sectors. From a foundation in FMCG marketing and branding, Ian has led transformative change through data science, large-scale retail leadership, and systemic change initiatives, all united by a consistent focus: finding the humanity in customers & teams and understanding the dynamics that surround them.
Ian’s executive journey spans start-ups, global board consultancy, private equity, family-run businesses, and charitable organisations, From very British brands like Mr. Kpling, data science work with Tesco Clubcard and Groupe Casino, retail change leadership with the Coop and wilko and most recently charity leadership with the Soil Association. Currently, Ian serves as NED for Waythrough, a national charity providing mental health, drug, and alcohol recovery services to over 130,000 people annually. Since January 2025, Ian has also been NED of Borough Care, a medium-scale social care provider for older people typically living with dementia. In addition to these NED roles Ian provides mentoring and consultancy support to a diverse range of individuals. Beyond that making sure to keep grounded through sports, dance and family.