From Loss to transformation: Ian’s Journey Through Loss, Healing, and Purpose
Caring for someone you love through long-term illness changes everything.
Your identity. Your priorities. Your relationship with work, time, and yourself.
In this intimate session, Ian, co-founder of an AI company, Fellow of the RSA, and long-time leader in people systems and organisational design, joins Legacy Compass to share how years of supporting a loved one through cancer, and navigating loss and bereavement, reshaped the way he understands health, leadership, and community.
Drawing from more than four decades working at the intersection of people, systems, and technology — including helping build Oracle’s global HR applications business — Ian brings a rare perspective: how deeply human experience must inform the systems we build, the organisations we lead, and the way we care for one another.
Today, Ian is co-founding a social enterprise focused on community-based wellbeing and self-regulation, combining functional naturopath protocols with peer support and human connection. This work grew directly from his lived experience of caregiving, grief, and the gaps he saw in how our health and care systems support individuals and families.
Together, we will explore how loss, caregiving, and personal health journeys can become sources of insight, purpose, and new ways of contributing to the world.
After the conversation, participants will be invited into small reflection circles — gentle, guided spaces to listen, share, and connect — followed by a collective closing to help integrate what has emerged.
Why join
💬 A grounded, honest conversation about caregiving, grief, and meaning
🌱 Reflection on how lived experience can reshape leadership, work, and wellbeing
🤝 Connection with a community bringing more humanity into health and organisations
About Ian
Much of Ian’s 40+ year career has been dedicated to people, organisations, and technology. He was part of the team that created Oracle’s global HR applications business, helping take it to over 40 countries, and is now a co-founder of an AI company.
Ian is also a Fellow of The RSA, where he leads the Fellows Economy and Business Network and contributes to the Health and Care group. He is currently co-founding a social enterprise focused on community-based support, helping individuals regulate themselves and improve their overall health and wellbeing through a functional naturopath protocol.
Alongside his professional journey, Ian has recent, deeply personal experience of supporting a loved one through multi-year cancer treatment and navigating bereavement — experiences that now shape his work, his vision, and his commitment to more human-centred systems of care.
About Legacy Compass
Legacy Compass helps organisations and leaders navigate loss, caregiving, and sensitive life transitions with empathy, clarity, and human-centred leadership — turning difficult moments into catalysts for connection, wellbeing, and resilient workplace cultures.