Ian has a vast supply chain experience with over 36 years in the Construction Industry. Prior to setting up ILA he spent 26 years as a Builders Merchant.

The early years of his career Ian worked with JT Atkinson & Sons, Hartlepool, an independent heavy side Builders Merchant with six regional depots, progressing through the ranks to Depot and then Regional Manager before setting up JTA’s first Contracts Division.

In 1990 Ian moved on to join James Burrell Builders Merchants based in Gateshead as Divisional Manager to assist the company with there ambitious expansion programme. Firstly opening up new depots and trading areas in Teesside and York and then moving to head office as Business Development Director. In 1999, following the Egan report, Ian began to research the rapidly changing procurement methods sweeping through the industry and set about to produce a detailed action plan enabling James Burrell to be at the forefront of ‘Strategic Partnering within the Supply Chain’. As result James Burrell’s are now widely respected on a national basis and considered by many to be the market leaders with this style of innovative approach.

In 1999 Ian was elected as Chairman of the Builders Merchants Federation North East and during his two year stint in the chair spent as much time as possible encouraging BMF members to change working practices and embrace news ways of working. In 2000 he became involved with Construction Industry Best Practice Programme becoming the first Builders Merchant to join the Movement for Innovation (M4i). In August 2000 he was invited to join the inaugural board of Constructing Excellence North East.

Ian is married with two children, five grandchildren and resides in Spennymoor, County Durham in his native North East. Ian has always been a keen sportsman, representing his county at Football and Athletics as a schoolboy before a short career as a Professional Footballer. Ian still plays competitive sport but nowadays this only stretches to golf!

Ian retired fully from CDI in the early part of 2016 to look after his health following a second Cancer diagnosis and spends a lot of his time raising funds for charity through Ian Larnach Cancer Care Charities. Over the years Ian has raised tens of thousands of pounds for good causes and this figure continues to rise.