Christina Liaos, European Investment Lead & Regional Director Europe North at the Department for Business and Trade
Christina Schiøtt Liaos is responsible for the leadership, strategic alignment and coordination of investment activities in DBT Europe. She leads a large team of investment professionals operating on the ground in over 25 European markets and covering both Foreign Direct Investment and capital investment into the UK
Christina has been with the Department for Business and Trade for over 10 years, holding positions as Director for Denmark and Director for the Nordic Region.
Prior to this, she has many years of business development experience within international trade and investment organisations, including Schneider, PowerPlant, Invest in Denmark and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Whereas a Danish national, Christina has an international background and holds a Master of Business Administration from the UK and a Master of Public Policy from Denmark.
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Henri Murison, Chief Executive at Northern Powerhouse Partnership
During his five years since his first appointment he has established the Northern Powerhouse Partnership as the business led organisation which convenes the North together.
From making the case for significant investment in key transport priorities and further devolution deals for the North, to challenging for a better deal for the most disadvantaged from the education system, his team are focused on how government, business and partners can drive the North’s ambitions.
Before joining the Partnership, he worked in senior research and policy roles in policing and financial services, and as a former senior local government figure in Newcastle upon Tyne remains a commentator on the political as well as economic rationale for Levelling Up and wider regional policy in the UK.
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Monika Izydorczyk, Senior Energy Advisor at Scottish Development International
Monika Izydorczyk is a Senior Energy Advisor at Scottish Development International, responsible for Nordic markets.
She supports trade and investment between Scottish and Nordic companies. Her focus is to assist companies in their internationalization, business development activities in areas such as offshore wind, hydrogen and other low carbon technologies.
Monika has sound experience in public affairs project management, regulatory affairs and economic diplomacy. Previously Monika worked as a diplomat at the Polish Ministry of foreign Affairs in the economic diplomacy area, supporting strategic projects including energy infrastructure development.
She has sound international experience and worked +3years as a consultant for international organizations including the EU.
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Bradley Reagan, Inward Investment Manager at London & Partners
London & Partners is the business growth and destination agency for London – it is our mission to create economic growth that is resilient, sustainable and inclusive.
Our work shines a global spotlight on London; we support the Mayor of London's priorities by promoting London internationally as a leading world city.
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Shantanu Bhagwat, Senior Advisor to the Growth Capital team, Venture Capital Unit at the Department for Business and Trade
Shantanu is presently a Sr Advisor (VC Funds & Deeptech) to the growth capital team at Department for International Trade in UK.
He has 21+ years of experience in venture capital & impact investing, across sectors & geographies and was previously a Venture Partner at Impact Ventures UK and at Nesta Impact Investments.
Prior to that Shantanu spent several years as Principal Director at Accion's Frontier Investments Group and as Partner(Asia) at Amadeus Capital Partners where he started his career in early-stage tech investing in 2001.
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Alpesh Patel, Dealmaker, Global Entrepreneur Programme at the Department for Business and Trade
Alpesh is an authority on investing & entrepreneurship. He is founding CEO of Private Equity/Hedge Fund, an International best-selling Financial Times Author, TV presenter with his own show on Bloomberg TV on investing.
Alpesh co-founded the UK Chapter of world's largest entrepreneur mentoring organisation (TiE.org).
Formerly a Barrister, he is founder of investing software, part of the award-winning UK's largest private investor software company.
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Olivia Sibony, Dealmaker, Global Entrepreneur Programme at the Department for Business and Trade
Olivia is an award-winning entrepreneur and ethical investment champion who started working life as a chef then moved in to the private sector and left a career at Goldman Sachs to launch Foodtech startup, GrubClub, that was sold to Eatwith in 2017.
Olivia is also a Board member of UCL's Fast Forward 2030, which aims to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to launch businesses that address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the vice-chair of the Mayor of London’s Women in Cleantech Board.
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