Ian Budden

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Experience & expertise

Ian has been leading technology and digital strategy for over 20 years. He is a commercially-savvy, articulate, and energetic IT leader, specializing in removing the technical barriers that stall mid-market growth. With a breadth of expertise across SaaS, EdTech, and the Arts & Culture sector, Ian excels at transforming “disorganized” technical environments into high-performing growth engines. He is a specialist in digital business transformation, strategic AI implementation, and robust security frameworks (including ISO27001), with a passion for streamlining processes to deliver board-level clarity, risk mitigation, and measurable ROI.

Background & approach

Early in his career, Ian was a digital pioneer, delivering BAFTA-award-winning mobile video streaming tours for global institutions like the Louvre and the Tate—long before mobile video was commonplace. He later co-founded and scaled the e-learning platform Elucidat from a bootstrap startup to over £5M ARR, serving 50 million users worldwide. As CTO, he helped to build a “Great Place to Work” culture, halved the time-to-market for new features, and slashed operational spend by over £40k per month. His approach is “business-first,” ensuring that technology is a transparent, secure, and scalable asset rather than a scary or limiting threat to the boardroom.

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