Meet Ian Galletly
Ian is the Managing Director of Ingredient Solutions, guiding the company and keeping it on track to achieve an incredibly high level of service to our customers. Ian has always been a foodie. He started his career training as a commis chef and learned the functionality of different cheeses, but decided to move into the food production industry. It was a good decision. Ian has been in management since he was 21 and working in the dairy industry for 35 years. Over that time he has seen the evolution of the business and adapted to the many changes in technologies and met the challenges set by new regulations and consumer demands over the years.
Hailing from Scotland, Ian established the business in 2001. His success in the UK dairy industry meant that he was able to relocate to Ireland. Ian’s wife is from Listowel, in Co. Kerry and she dreamed of moving home, so it was an ideal place to set up Ingredient Solutions. Ian’s vast experience and highly motivated team have achieved a lot since the business was founded by Ian in 2001.
Starting with just 5 employees, some of whom are still with the business, the team at Ingredient Solutions has grown to over 75 staff members and has a turnover of over €45 million, supplying over 110 customers in 30 countries in Europe. Recently they have acquired customers in the Middle East, China, North Africa and the Caribbean.
So what does Ian believe made Ingredient Solutions such a success? Ian says “I stay in direct contact with the management team, we are very close and we maintain good relationships with our customers. When a customer rings looking for information they aren’t put through to an automated service, they speak personally to the appropriate person in our team and their needs are prioritised. That makes us unique.”
Ian particularly feels his strong, deep and long established management team have played a vital role in the success of the business. Colin O’Sullivan has been with Ingredient Solutions since day one and has been a steadfast and efficient member of the production team. Ted Healy, another early staff member, has been looking after the machinery and keeping things running through the years. Colin Barrow, a longtime friend and associate, is involved in the background providing business insights and brilliant ideas. Sales Director Gary Davies has grown sales enormously. Ian has known Gary for over 30 years. Gary has always been industrious and dedicated- he was 16 and washing Ian’s car when they first met. Esther Linehan, Office Manager, runs the office and the sales administration team admirably, ensuring the company maintains its great customer service by ensuring that we meet the day to day logistical challenges that face the business. Esther has been with the company over 15 years. Last, but definitely not least, Janice Sweeney as Ian’s PA has been an indispensable and highly efficient member of the team, keeping the business on track and working closely with the team. Janice is retiring next month and she’ll be sorely missed by everyone.
In the future Ian sees further growth for the business and the team he has built are equally enthusiastic for the challenges ahead. The company has bought land to expand physically, just 300m away from the existing facility in Boherbue. The plan is to build a new state of the art factory, and have the capacity to double the turnover over the next 5 years. That will help to secure the long term future for the company and staff.
So what does Ian do in his spare time? Does he have any? “I enjoy salmon fishing. I fish when I can here in Ireland, but I’ve also fished in Canada and Scotland. I’d really like to go fishing in Norway some time in the future.” Ian’s biggest catch ever was a 36lb Salmon in Canada. He fishes for sport and returns his catches to the river, so that one might have got even bigger!
His other great love is horse racing and he owns a race horse, it’s only 2 years old and yet to race, but we hope it’s a winner.
When asked about his favourite cheese Ian said he likes a good cheeseboard with all the trimmings with a fine vintage cheddar and a nice glass of Shiraz or Malbec.
Research conducted by food economist Ciaran Fitzgerald has highlighted the importance of the Irish dairy sector in its contribution to the rural economy. The sector alone supports 60,000 jobs of which 19,000 are in dairy farming and the rest are in areas such as milk/dairy food processing, distribution, export marketing, and research. Ireland exports 90% of its output to 120 countries across the globe and the value of exports has doubled from €2bn to €4bn since 2015 when EU milk quotas were abolished. 
Catherine’s role is Technical Assistant and she is one of the newer members of the Ingredient Solutions team. Catherine recently graduated in Food Science and Innovation at WIT and is motivated, positive and enjoys working in a team. Catherine says, “I always see the good in every challenge that approaches me as they can lead to opportunities to learn more.” She is looking forward to focusing on the areas that she can control and learning how to perfect them.
Ted is the Factory Manager, he is the man that keeps everything running smoothly, supporting production and technical operations. He ensures that all the machinery within the factory functions at maximum efficiency and is properly maintained.
Suma has worked for Ingredient Solutions for two years as Technical Manager – leading the technical team. Before working for Ingredient Solutions, Suma worked in Asia, the Middle East and Europe and has over twenty years experience in management and leadership in food and other industries.
Pina is our UK Sales Support Administrator and has worked for Ingredient Solutions since 2012. She works alongside Gary Davies and the sales team providing them with sales information and supporting the team especially when they are on the road. Pina works remotely for Ingredient Solutions from her base in Luton in the UK.
Marek is based near Lublin, that’s not a typo we don’t mean Dublin, he’s our man on the ground in Eastern Europe.