Irvine Laidlaw

Irvine Laidlaw is a 'Monaco-based business services tycoon who almost single-handedly bankrolls the Scottish Conservative Party'.^[1] His company Institute for International Research Ltd. was set up in 1973. It subsequently changed its name to IIR.

Background

According to a biography on the Wall Street Global site

Mr. Laidlaw founded the Institute for International Research Ltd. (IIR), the world's largest conference company with 4,000 employees and operations in 35 countries. They create and run thousands of conferences every year, including many large-scale association type events. IIR is also one of the world leaders in the provision of corporate training, with particular emphasis on IT, telecoms, project management, sales and financial skills training. They are heavily involved in e-learning, with all divisions offering their training through Internet models. IIR has divisions in trade exhibitions, running major trade shows in the US, UK, Middle and Far East. They also have B2B publishing interests in the UK and USA. Previous to founding IIR in 1974, Mr. Laidlaw worked for Doubleday in both New York and London. He has lived in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, The Netherlands, France and the UK. Mr. Laidlaw has extensive experience in international operations, and particularly in international direct marketing. He has degrees from Leeds University, England and an M.B.A. from Columbia University, New York.

Laidlaw is on the Advisory board of Wall Street Global which researches and tracks offshore funds for investors. [2]

Laidlaw Youth Project

He set up the Laidlaw Youth Project

Notes

^ Andrew Denholm 'What else shall I do with my money?', The Scotsman, 19 November 2003.