Ivan Dixon has been judging for the IWSC for over 17 years, starting his life in wine before moving upwards and over to the spirits side of the industry.

His career began in independent wine retail before Harvey Nichols brought him down to London from Manchester to work as an assistant buyer. During his time within the Harvey Nichols buying team, Ivan Increasingly developed a passion for the fast-moving and exciting nature of the spirits market, and moved upwards and over into the position of Head Spirits Buyer for the company. During his last 6 years at Harvey Nichols, Ivan was responsible for procurement, implementation and activation of all spirits along with developing a highly-successful own-label range under the HN guise. growing performance within the spirits range. The cross-channel role involved aspects of everything involved in launching a brand. 

Following a highly successful period at HN, Ivan was recruited by premium nationwide wine importer and wholesaler Enotria&Coe as Head of Spirits. In a similar role, Ivan was responsible for all procurement, driving trends, innovation and activating products, as well as managing a selection of UK exclusive agency products. Here he gained valuable exposure to the ontrade, and the commercial considerations and mechanics regarding wholesale.

Since 2020, Ivan has been self-employed consulting on a range of industry projects.