Ian co-founded The Network in 2013 with a dear friend from the special operations community. While deeply committed to a career in intelligence service, an unplanned introduction to the anti–human trafficking movement in 2008 irrevocably altered the course of his life. He knew he could not look away, and sensed this would become his life’s work. Ian and his co-founder both chose to step away from promising careers to test a theory: that intelligence-based, data-driven strategies could meaningfully change outcomes in the fight against exploitation.
By concentrating first on a single form of trafficking - the illicit massage industry - they created a focused testing ground to develop and refine a scalable disruption methodology. The results suggest this approach may be adaptable to other forms of trafficking as well. Ian believes trafficking is not inevitable, but the solutions are rarely obvious. They emerge through ruthless focus, disciplined collaboration, and iterative learning.
Born in Stuttgart, West Germany, and raised in Roanoke, Virginia, Ian earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cedarville University and an M.S. in Telecommunications from Southern Methodist University. He began his career as a communications engineering officer in the U.S. Air Force in 1996, then spent more than two decades living and working abroad conducting technical operations for the CIA and the Department of Defense. These experiences shaped his non-conventional approach to problem-solving and cultivated curiosity, independent thinking, and moral courage; leading at times to audacious successes, and at others to necessary failures.
Ian speaks German, is a novice golfer, a mediocre pickleball player, an aspiring Porsche driver, and a resident of Arlington County, Virginia.
