Ian Smith is the Chair of the NHS Surrey and Sussex ICB, having been appointed to Chair NHS Surrey in 2022.

He was previously Chair of NHS King’s College Hospital, one of the most distinguished teaching hospitals in the country, and of Four Seasons Health Care (2012-2017), at the time the largest care/nursing home operator in the country. In the early 2000s he was CEO of General Healthcare Group which operated 50 private acute hospitals (BMI Healthcare) and 23 mental health facilities (Partnerships in Care). As a result of these experiences, Ian has an in-depth knowledge of healthcare systems and patient needs, particularly in terms of acute, psychiatric, and social/elderly care.

Ian is also a non-executive director of Strategic Command (now Cyber & Special Operations Command) in the MOD, a position he has held since 2019. Ian has also served on two Parliamentary Reviews: the Hooper Review in 2008 into the Royal Mail; and his own 2010 review, the Smith Review, into the relocation of selected civil service cohorts out of London to less expensive parts of the country, which would also serve as engines of regional economic growth. Ian worked with the Quartet on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process for 3 years from 2010. 

Earlier in his career, Ian was CEO of two FTSE 100 companies: Reed Elsevier (publishing) and Taylor Woodrow (housebuilding and construction), and was CEO of Exel Europe (logistics and transportation), and on the Board of that FTSE 100 company. 

Ian started his career with the oil company, Shell, in the Middle East (Jordan and Oman) in 1978. He was a Partner in the strategy consulting firm, Monitor Company for over 10 years, developing concepts in national / corporate competitiveness and organisational behaviour, and applying them in corporations and national governments.

Ian has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MA from Oxford University, a recent BSc in Psychology from the Open University, and is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) society.