Ian came to this work the way most of us come to our deepest callings — through lived experience.

Adopted from India to the United States as a child, Ian has spent 25 years at the intersection of child welfare, identity, and belonging. He has worked across 19 countries, built and scaled organizations from the ground up, advised governments on child protection policy, and spoken at the United Nations. He previously served for a decade as President of Children's Emergency Relief International (CERI), overseeing teams in Guatemala, India, Moldova, South Africa, and Sri Lanka.

But underneath all of that is a simpler truth: Ian is an adoptee who knows what it's like to search for where you fit. He has personally led homeland travel trips to Kazakhstan, Guatemala, and India — not as a program director, but as someone who understands in his bones what it means to stand on the soil of your own origin.

Ian holds a Master of Social Work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. He lives in St. Louis with his partner Nargis and their children, Zane and Inaya.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart." — Helen Keller