After sponsoring a number of different industry sectors, he became a founder member of the Policy Planning Unit in the Department of Industry.

Having worked on various marketing, process improvement and information systems projects he became a Senior Civil Servant in 1990 when he took up the post of Director of Services and Resources at the Civil Service College at Sunningdale, then a newly formed Executive Agency working to an innovative set of performance measures. Returning to DTI in 1995 he became Director of Automotive Components in 1997.

Iain joined SMMT Industry Forum in 2002.