Ian McLaverty

Nearly thirty years in global supply chain. Started on factory floors in Bangladesh and China at age 22 with Regatta. Twenty-five years at David Luke / The Parently Group, growing the supply chain team and in-house capabilities, diversifying sourcing across the UK, Europe, China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, delivering against inventory forecasts, margin uplift through re-sourcing, and the UK's first 100% recycled school blazer. Logistics has been a constant alongside the sourcing work. Moving product on long, multi-leg routes from Asia into the UK has only become harder, with container rates, port congestion, geopolitical disruption and weather events all shifting beneath us. In today's ever-changing and often chaotic world, the only way to manage it is with control: visibility, planning discipline, and supplier relationships strong enough to hold when conditions move. Most recently as Data & Technology Director, focused on improving data availability across the business and building on the Microsoft Fabric data warehouse and AI automation already in flight, bringing advantages across the whole group. There is no shortage of voices telling supply chain professionals that AI is about to transform our industry. Some of it is true, a lot of it isn't. Yet what interests me is the gap between what people say and what people do well. In supply chain, that's where AI and automation either genuinely deliver in sourcing, procurement and supplier management, or where years of human judgement still matter more than any model. If that perspective is useful, follow along. Now considering what comes next, and open to conversations about supply chain, sourcing and data leadership roles where experience and judgement still count. Always happy to connect with others working through the same questions and problems.