contact@aventageconsulting.com

Ian Telford

seasoned commercial (buy and sell) exec who has operated globally

Ian has extensive experience in global commercial B2B successes. He has operated at senior levels in large, medium and small companies either as a senior exec, consultant or advisor. Following his Chemical Engineering degree from Loughborough University (UK), he worked for a division of Rolls Royce, 24 years for the Dow Chemical Company and then 6½ years with LM Wind Power/Doughty Hanson private equity. He has been P&L responsible for global businesses and led multi-cultural groups in sales & marketing, sourcing, supply chain, eCommerce and is renowned as one of the most creative, supportive, energetic, challenging bosses they ever worked with. If there is a deal to be done, together with you, Ian will find a way to get it done.

Titles held: CCO, CPO, Director Supply Chain, Business Director, eCommerce & Customer Interface, VP Sales & Marketing, GWEC board member

He focuses now on his advisory work with zapfactory GmbH, setting up Aventage Consulting, M&A due diligence and advising start-ups. He is Chairman of the advisory board of a software company in Bristol and in discussion with several start-ups, either as a co-founder or advisor

Ian is originally from the North East of England and also holds a Swiss passport.

Ian spends his spare time skiing/snowboarding in the winter and boating in the summer. He is a qualified PADI open water diver, BWSW ski boat driver & wakeboard coach, as well as RYA (commercially certified) motorboat day skipper and advanced powerboat & jetski instructor. He previously played rugby for Frankfurt, was president of the Horgen tennis club, represented Switzerland in 2 European Shukokai karate championships and a long time ago was an extreme rock and ice climber, mainly in Chamonix, France.

Ian's Experiences

Over 30 years of global commercial experience (buying, selling, marketing, product management, benchmarking, M&A due diligence) in variety of industries, with long list of achievements in complex multi-faceted negotiations. Known as someone who focuses on long term relationships, creativity and can get `get the deal`

Two decades in the composite business, from chemicals to blade manufacture. Was on Dow's epoxy and intermediates ($2bn) global business team as one of two business directors.

Board member of GWEC (global wind energy council) for 5 years

Worked for 6½ years with prestigious Private Equity firm; present at virtually all quarterly board meetings. Experience of 3 financing rounds, auditing, mezzanine finance, bond and accounting issues. Sat on European Exec Board of $16bn company (Dow Europe GmbH), representing Shared Services.

Has negotiated with senior politicians & business leaders in China, India, Brasil, USA, Europe, Japan, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, UK. Special knowledge in building and finance of factories in wind industry in China, Morocco, France and Brasil.

Employed as `associate` of the largest global consultancy firm (in 2014) Deloitte LLP, working in Supply Chain practice with 3 major clients.

Ran the largest global strategic sourcing group in the Chemical Industry with 80 strategic buyers and $9bn spend, negotiating contracts over $1bn, initiating low cost country sourcing. Ran European shared services group

Responsible for $400m global commodity trading (buy and sell) business unit

P&L responsibility for 4 global multi-site, multi hundred million $, business units in B2B area, based in USA, Germany, Japan, China

People manager of global sales teams for over 18 years, consistently improving market share, margin, customer satisfaction, cash flow and driving innovative growth. Sought after speaker at industry conferences.

Devised, built and launched one of Dow`s most successful global eBusinesses which was competing channel to market back in year 2000, and lectured on it at IMD, HSG and other business schools.

What I do best