Ian Riley

Commander
DISC Type : D

Chief Executive Officer at Xeroc Ltd

London, England, United Kingdom

Overview

Ian Riley is the CEO of Xeroc, a climate tech venture he co-founded to mitigate the CO2 footprint of concrete. An alumnus of the University of Cambridge, he has extensive multinational experience leading business turnarounds and M&A, notably as the former China head for LafargeHolcim. Colleagues describe him as strategic and effective.

Ian is passionately focused on addressing significant environmental challenges through his work. He is a vocal advocate for finding viable, low-cost solutions for the decarbonization of "hard to abate" industries like cement, viewing this as an essential mission to make meaningful progress on climate change.

Unique fact: While leading LafargeHolcim in China, he integrated two massive organizations with 20, 000 employees, achieving $250 million in synergies and increasing EBITDA by 90%.

Personality Overview

Candid & Clear

Impact-Driven

Decisive

They respond well to strong and respectful communication.  They are less concerned about the product and more about its potential impact. They prefer to move quickly, and expect the same from others.

Topics They Care About

Climate Tech
Co-founded and now leads Xeroc, a company specifically created to address concrete's high CO2 footprint and poor recyclability, stepping down from a prior CEO role to focus on it.
Industrial Decarbonization
Focuses on "hard to abate" sectors like cement, frequently discussing the need for innovative, low-cost CO2 reduction solutions to make progress toward net-zero emissions.
M&A and Transformation
Has a track record of leading large-scale business transformation and post-merger integrations, most notably combining the Lafarge and Holcim organizations in China.

Media Appearances

Ian has no verified media appearances

Work History

2-2025
Chief Executive Officer at Xeroc Ltd
11-2021 - 1-2025
Director at Xeroc Ltd
12-2020
Industry Expert at WhitewaterTx
9-2019 - 1-2025
CEO at World Cement Association
4-2014 - 3-2019
Greater China Country Head at LafargeHolcim

Education

9-1976 - 6-1979
MA from University of Cambridge
1973 - 1975
Education details unavailable from King Edward VI Grammar School, Nuneaton

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 18 Location : London, England, United Kingdom Job Level : Leadership Designation : Chief Executive Officer at Xeroc Ltd
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Insights For Selling To Ian

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Help them weigh the risks by sharing objective proof points without becoming too analytical
  • Use phrases like ‘it’s your decision’, ‘strategic impact’ etc.
  • Speak about competitive differentiation that your product offers

DONT's

  • Don’t take too much time in sending them information if they ask for any
  • Don't try too hard to forge relationships with them
  • Do not spend too much time focusing on product tech or features

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Ian is

  • Confidence in impact is paramount to them, followed by a sense of achievement and ROI.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Ian

  • If they decide not to go ahead, they will say no without hesitation.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Ian move?

  • If convinced, they can reach decisions quite fast.
  • Can Ian take some risk or not?

  • They do not shy away from taking risks, but can be quite binary about them.

You And Ian

Personality Compatibility


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