Biographical details

Ian Taylor MBE

Business

Ian is on the Advisory Board of D Group, the leading UK cross-sector strategic business development network.

Ian chaired the UK Innovation & Science Seedfund UKI2S Advisory Board 2013-2020: the Fund invests equity capital on behalf of leading UK publicly funded research organisations to kick-start ventures emerging from the research base. He steps down at end December 2020.

He has been a Strategic Advisor to Inmarsat plc on various projects including GNSS.  He also advised the company on its Space Agency funded work with developing countries (IPP) 2013-19.  He is now a member of the D Group's Advisory Board and its Space Working Forum.

Ian works with a team of associates (see 'Team' tab for Fentiman Consultants Limited) to provide corporate finance advice to the aforementioned companies and a wider range of clients. He is a Partner in Planit Ventures Inc which invests in interconnected technologies to enhance urban environments. He chairs currently Nuvo Assets Inc which invests in critical metals supply chains.

He was a founder and non-executive director of Celebrus Technologies Limited, a software developer for real-time, individual-level online customer intelligence, which was  acquired by IS Solutions plc (D4t4 plc) in January 2015.  He and FCL advised 8over8 Limited, a provider of software for owner-operators of complex large-scale infrastructure projects, prior to its acquisition by Aveva Group plc.

During the last 15 years, he served at various times as a non-executive director of or strategic advisor to several companies including: Next Fifteen Communications Group plc (for which he chaired the Audit and Remuneration committees); Avanti Communications Group plc; Petards Group plc (interim chairman, deputy chairman and audit committee chairman); Parkmead Group plc; Radioscape Limited and AXA-Framlington Investment Managers Limited and Tinka NL.  He was on the UK Advisory Board of Northrop Grumman 2008-10.  Prior to entering Parliament in 1987, he had 18 years’ experience of providing investment, corporate finance and management advice in the UK, France and USA.

Parliament & Politics

Ian Taylor was a Member of Parliament for 23 years (1987-2010) until deciding to stand down at the 2010 General Election to resume a business career. 

During his first two terms he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) at the Foreign Office, Department of Health and Cabinet Office. He then served as Minister for Science, Space and Technology from 1994 to 1997 in the Major Government.  He became Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland in 1997, tracking the peace process during that year.

Ian is a member of the Council of EuroDefense UK and was a member of the ippr Commission on National Security 2006-09. From 2004-2008 he was a Parliamentary delegate to OSCE: Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.  He was a Visiting Parliamentary Fellow at St. Antony's College Oxford in the Hilary Term 2007, lecturing on energy security. 

Ian is a member of the Franco-British Council. He chaired the European Movement 2000-05 and the Conservative Group for Europe 2007-11 & in 1985-88.  Ian was chairman of the Conservative Foreign & Commonwealth Council in the early 1990s.  He also chaired the Cuba Initiative 2008-2011, having been a co-founder during Ministerial visits to Havana in 1994 & 1996. 

Ian has since the 2019 General Election become an Independent Conservative.

Science, Technology & Space 

In 2008, Ian gained an 'Arthur' ~ The Arthur C. Clarke Award for Individual Achievement in Promoting Space and Science. This recognised his work in and beyond Parliament not only as Minister for Science, Space and Technology but in subsequent involvement in committee work, conferences and debates.

From 2007-10 Ian chaired the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, the oldest all Party committee which includes the Parliamentary Engineering Group.  He was co-chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee and in 2009 he chaired the European Inter-Parliamentary Space Conference.  He was also an officer of several other all-party Parliamentary committees, including the Office of Science & Technology, the Information Society Alliance (EURIM), PITCOM (Information Technology Committee).  He was Chairman of the Conservative Policy Task Force on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics 2005-2009 reporting to the Party Leader David Cameron. He was an external member of the Parliamentary committee which issued a report on e-Invoicing in April 2014.

Ian is a Trustee of Lunar Missions which has developed the Archive of Life.  He also chaired the Steering Group of the National Space Academy 2012-2018.  He has been an advisor to the European Space Agency’s Integrated Applications programme and one of the former ESA DG's strategy advisors.  He is a Strategic Advisor to Inmarsat.

He was on the Government’s Science & Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) 2011-2018  

Charities

Ian is an Advisor to the Dolma Development Fund which works mainly in Nepal with local entrepreneurs to alleviate poverty by supporting sustainable businesses, jobs and education. He was a founding trustee of the bio-science educational charity Centre of the Cell until it was transferred to Queen Mary University of London (July 2014).  He was an officer of the Parliamentary Group on Corporate Social Responsibility.

He is President of the League of Remembrance which connects elderly veterans/spouses with those in need. (He was its Chair 2015-2022). In the late 1990s Ian chaired Research into Ageing and now chairs the Development Committee for BSRA.  He served on the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey's Royal British Legion Fundraising Committee for over 12 years until 2010.  In the 1980s, he was Chairman of the Commonwealth Youth Exchange Council. 

Personal

Ian was born on 18 April 1945 in Coventry.  He was educated at Whitley Abbey School; Keele University (BA in Modern History, Economics and Politics, with first year exams in Maths and Physics) and at the LSE (Ford Foundation research scholar).

He was an Associate of the UK Society of Investment Professionals and is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.

Ian speaks French (he has a house in SW France) and some German.

He was awarded the MBE in New Year Honours in 1974 for political services (having been Chairman of both the UK and the European Conservative Student organisations 1967-69).

Ian is married to Carole née Alport and they have 2 grown up sons, Arthur (an Army officer) and Ralph (who is a director of Bonhams and Global Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art).

Contact details:

Mobile: +44 (0) 7860 327 416 

Linkedin

@iancolintaylor