“I have been the Managing Director of financial management company Lifetime for 15 years.

“Lifetime has clearly been at the centre of my professional life for all of this time.

“Our business has grown from just me to now employing and engaging 56 individuals. The turnover is now in excess of £3 million.

“To get from our very humble beginnings to our current position has been a very interesting journey, with many challenges and lessons learned.

“Some of these lessons and insights I would have relished to have known at the time of life your students find themselves at now!

“My speech will be about my reflections and my journey, in the context of how they would be useful to a young person preparing themselves for the wider world.

“I would like if possible to speak to smaller groups so I can really engage with them one-to-one.”

• Asked what he would like people to remember him for, Ian replied: “That ‘he gave his all to be the best he could be’“.