Born and educated in Scotland, degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Glasgow University. Emigrated to Australia in 1963 as a Lecturer in Engineering at the then University College of Townsville, now James Cook University. In 1965 became, in addition to retaining the role of Lecturer, the Acting Officer in Charge of the College’s first computer, a secondhand IBM 1620 which continued in service till the early 70s, though it was augmented in 1970 by a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP10 timesharing computer, which including a successor machine, remained the mainstay of computing at JCU till the mid-1980s. During this period, Ian ceased to lecture in Engineering and became the Computer Centre Manager, a role he fulfilled till his early retirement in 1996. Ian was the Chair of DECUS Australia and GIA DECUS from 1983 to 1988, being involved for many years in the organisation and running of the annual DECUS Symposium, then one of the major computing conferences in Australia.

Retirement in 1996 was in name only, as very quickly Ian was appointed the Executive Officer for CAUDIT (Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology) a role he filled till 2008 when he once again “retired”.  Now, in addition to his role as Project Director for WCC2010, Ian also holds the part-time position of Administration Officer for the Alliance Française de Toowoomba, a remarkably different role.