IAN CLEMENS:
 
Ian Clemens




 
 
 
 
 
Chief Technology Officer of IDV Solutions in Lansing. IDV develops visualization software using map-based data so governmental organizations and corporations can see all vital information in one location online. Bringing more than 15 years of experience in the technology and consulting industries, Clemens oversees research, product development, and technology strategy. He is an expert in interactive data visualization, location intelligence, and business intelligence software, and has authored a number of articles on the topic, including in DM Review and Directions magazine. Under his leadership, IDV Solutions has been named one of Michigan's Top 50 Companies to Watch by the Edward Lowe Foundation and the Small Business Association of Michigan, was a Microsoft Rookie Partner of the Year, and won a Computerworld Honors Program award for a hurricane management system developed for BP. In addition, IDV's Visual Fusion application implemented at a city in Ontario won the Geospatial Information and Technology Association Innovators Award. Prior to IDV, Clemens was director of technology solutions for Universal Map, a map publisher and distributor, and senior consultant for BBK Ltd./ Anderson Economic Group, a firm specializing in economics, finance, and public policy. Clemens received his bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his master's degree in Christian studies from Regent College in Vancouver.


WHERE BORN: “A suburb of Philadelphia.”

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: “I've been blessed with some great mentors: parents, a high school physics teacher, a community college teacher, a boss in Lansing, and now business mentors. They've all pushed me to do more and go beyond what I thought were boundaries and really took a caring interest in me personally. It helps to have someone believe in you. I was a poor student in high school and had a physics teacher who said, 'You can do anything, even go to MIT,' and eventually I did.”

LAST BOOK READ: “I'm reading the The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. It's in the spy genre and combines one of my loves, sailing, with a great spy story.”

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: “Passionate, creative, down to earth.”

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: “It's headed towards mobile – away from the desktop and more to mobile devices. We provide a system for making data more accessible and we sell to large organizations and the federal government, all around the idea of there's so much potential in enterprise data and third-party data, and combining that together to provide value.”

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: “I love my iPad and I do almost all my reading on it now – books, articles, web.”

FAVORITE PLACE: “Florida – my wife and I are Florida nuts.”

FAVORITE HOBBIES: “I love almost anything on the water, especially sailing and kayaking.”

FAVORITE FOOD: “I love everything. I'm not hard to please.”

MY HIDDEN TALENT: “I read ancient Greek and one of my favorite things to do is to read the New Testament in the original Greek.”

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: “That I added value and made things better than what they were.”


Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2014, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.