Ivars Avots joined Arthur D. Little, Inc. in 1964 where he spent two decades as a consultant on project management and information systems, as well as a lecturer at the ADL Management Education Institute. He has published many professional articles, contributed to books in the United States and Europe, written short stories and edited a literary magazine. He has received the McKinsey Award for contribution to management literature, the Arthur D. Little Presidential Award and the Person of the Year Award from the Project Management Institute.

Prior to ADL, Ivars was a member of the general manager's staff at Boeing Aero-Space Division and performed military service with the Army Audit Agency. Recently, he served as the non-executive chairman of the AveLat Group, a food industry conglomerate in Latvia. Ivars has started several consulting firms, such as Management Planning Systems Company, Latvian Management Partners and Trans-Global Management Systems, Inc. Most recently, he and a team of former ADL colleagues founded EasyDown Corporation which developed a personal descender for emergency escape from high-rise buildings.

Ivars has an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School. He is a gourmet cook and a BMW enthusiast. Driving an M3, he is a frequent participant in high-performance driving events at various Eastern U.S. race courses.