Ian Ritchie

Who is Ian Ritchie?

Ian Cleland Ritchie, CBE FREng FRSE FBCS CEng is a Scottish businessman specialising in the Information Technology sector.

In 1984, Ritchie founded the software company, Office Workstations Limited in Edinburgh, after leaving ICL when they closed their Scottish Development Centre at Dalkeith Palace the previous year.

From 1997 onwards, Ritchie became involved in venture capital and was the founding chairman of several Scottish IT companies, including Voxar, VIS Entertainment, Orbital Software Group, and Digital Bridges. He has also been on the board of Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, and Channel Four Television Corporation.

He was a founding director and chairman of the Scottish Software Federation from 1988 to 1990, and served as President of the British Computer Society from 1998 to 1999.

In the New Year Honours 2003, Ritchie was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to enterprise and education. Ritchie also holds Honorary Doctorates from four Scottish universities.

As of 2008, Ritchie is Chairman of Computer Application Services, Blipfoto Limited, Scapa Technologies and Caspian Learning and a Director of Iomart. Outside of the business world, he is an Honorary Professor of Heriot-Watt University, a board member of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, a trustee of the National Museums of Scotland, a member of the board of Our Dynamic Earth, and a trustee of the Bletchley Park Trust.