Ian Saville
The "MacGyver for People Problems"
I'm a Learning, Development, and Talent Leader with over 20 years of experience developing others, building systems, and creating durable communities. I help leaders grow — and I build the systems to make that growth stick.
I spent eight years at Meta as the Director of Leader Development. Working in the executive space, I led the team working directly with the most senior tech leadership and had influence with leaders leading 55,000 employees globally. An "HR and engineer whisperer," I built strong partnerships across all aspects of the business and coached leaders and teams across Privacy, AI, Reality Labs, FB App, Instagram, Research, Infrastructure, and the Data Centers.
Notable work at Meta included partnering with VP-level product leadership to clarify mission and values, working with C-suite leaders on DEI programming, executive coaching, and team interventions. I advised and coached senior leadership supporting internal incubator programs, major products, privacy, AI and ethical innovation — while building highly effective scaled leadership development programs.
Before venturing out on my own to focus on the intersection of AI and leader development, I co-founded Collabic, a boutique leader development firm. There I served as CTO/COO/CFO, coaching C-Suite leaders from Fortune 50 companies and local non-profits. I built white-gloved facilitation and team development programs for teams in crisis, and development programs for new managers all the way to executive level leaders at Series B-D and publicly traded companies.
I've developed IP focused on AI in my developmental practice and continue to look at how hybrid intelligence can create good in the world.
The human behind the coaching
I'm Australian-American and have lived all over the US and New South Wales. I came to New York to teach art in the NYC Department of Education and never left. Now a New Yorker of almost 20 years, I live in Brooklyn with my wife Peipei, son Miles, cat Mochi, and betta fish Red Lightning V2.
My career started in a non-profits and the classroom (teaching art to middle schoolers in New York City). That experience taught me everything I know about meeting people where they are, building systems for growth, and the power of creative problem-solving. It turns out those skills transfer directly to coaching executives at the world's most complex organizations.
Values that shape the practice
These aren't aspirational. They're how I actually show up in every engagement.
Start with discovery, not assumptions
Every engagement begins with listening. Confidential interviews, synthesis, and proposals built around your actual dynamics, not a capabilities deck.
Warm rigor
I'll challenge you (and I'll do it with empathy). Growth happens at the edge of comfort. Australian warmth meets New York hustle meets educator patience.
Systems over heroics
The best leaders build environments, not dependency. I help you create the conditions where leadership happens naturally, so growth outlasts our sessions.
Build capability, not reliance
I'm not here to become a permanent fixture. The goal is to build internal strength: your leadership muscle, your team's operating system, your organization's development capability, and then I exit gracefully.
Name what's hard
I'll tell you what I actually see, not what you want to hear. The most useful thing a coach can do is surface the pattern you can't see from inside it.
Creative pragmatism
Art teacher turned executive coach. People Engineer. I bring unconventional approaches and real experience to leadership challenges, but everything lands with a practical tool, framework, or system you can use.
Professional background
Education
What clients say
Ian has been my executive coach during one of the most demanding stretches of my career, leading at the intersection of technology and people in a large enterprise software organization. I came in as a builder, technically strong, moving fast, carrying too much myself. Ian helped me deliberately change gears: to lead people, not just execute; to show up more human and vulnerable with my team and peers; and to manage up effectively to a fast-moving CEO whose style is very different from mine.
What sets Ian apart is how practical he is. He doesn’t deal in abstractions. He hands you language and tools you actually use in the room the next day. For instance, I keep a running “cheat sheet” of phrases from our sessions. He’s direct without being harsh, prepared, and genuinely invested in your growth and your wellbeing, including pushing me to protect my time and avoid burnout. My growth as a leader has been recognized at the most senior levels. I recommend Ian without reservation.
Executive Technology Leader · Fortune 500 company
I met Ian about three years ago and was immediately impressed — enough that I made sure to stay in touch and keep bringing him back.
What makes him different is that he actually takes the time to get it. Our business is unique, our culture is specific, and Ian didn’t try to fit us into some off-the-shelf framework. He dug in, asked the right questions, and built something that genuinely resonated with our people — across every level.
He has a real gift for building frameworks — feedback, decision-making, you name it — that don’t feel like frameworks and work uniquely for the team. For our feedback training, he built out scenarios that were so specific to our employees’ actual day-to-day that people were like, “wait, has he been listening to our Slack?” That kind of relevance doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of someone who actually listened and cared enough to make it land.
He’s also ahead of the curve on AI — the way he’s thinking about it and building tools around it is genuinely exciting. Like all things he does — it’s practical and thoughtful.
Beyond all of that, he’s just a great thought partner. He’ll jump on a call to noodle on something. He always comes with ideas — for the work, for the team, for things you didn’t even know you needed yet. He shows up like someone who is rooting for your org to succeed.
We feel so lucky we get to partner together. I can’t recommend him enough.
VP of People · Pre-IPO tech company
Let's talk about what you're building
Whether it's coaching for yourself, development for your team, or figuring out how AI fits into your people strategy — it starts with a conversation.
Book a 30-minute connect