Ian McWilliam Welsh OBE (born 23 November 1953) is a former Scottish Labour politician who works as Chief Executive of the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland.
He was very narrowly elected as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Ayr in 1999 but resigned at the end of the year, disillusioned at his failure to achieve office and having decided that he was uncomfortable with the mode of politics.
He left teaching in 1997 and after briefly working as Director of Human Resources and Public Affairs for Prestwick Airport, was appointed Chief Executive of Kilmarnock F.C.
In November 1999 he cautioned the members of the committee not to intervene in delicate negotiations over funding of Hampden Park before it had a full briefing from the Minister responsible.
[4] An assessment of the performance of each MSP by The Herald newspaper published in the middle of December 1999 noted that Welsh was only on leave of absence from being Chief Executive of Kilmarnock F.C., and said that he was "clearly finding the transition to 'humble' back bencher a bit hard".