Steve Angus, Department for Business & Trade
Originally from Durham, Steve has been working with UK-Sweden trade and investment for about 20 years. He is currently Country Director for the Department for Business & Trade at the British Embassy in Stockholm. Within the Embassy’s work, he is responsible for the bilateral commercial relationship across investment, exports and trade policy. Prior to becoming Director, he was Head of the Trade team covering a range of export sectors helping to match UK expertise with Swedish demand.

Tas Baqir, Department for Business & Trade
With knowledge in economic development and business support, by working across local, regional and national government, Tas is currently the Partnership Manager for the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Investment Services team. Her focus is to act as DBT's point of contact across the North East region, foster partnerships between local stakeholders, businesses and government agencies and act as an ambassador for DBT and local partners, to attract maximum foreign direct investment into the region.

Rachel Burdis, Invest North East England
Having worked in the regional digital and tech sector for over 10 years, Rachel has strong knowledge of the North East ecosystem. At Invest North East England, Rachel supports the growth and location of businesses to the North East, and specialises in working with organisations in the tech, FPBS (financial, professional and business services), creative, and space sectors.

Dawn Dunn, Invest Newcastle

John Duns, North East Times Magazine
John Duns is a director and co-owner of leading regional media company, North East Times. John has over 30 years experience in media, management, sales and marketing. Prior to helping set up North East Times in 2015, John was in senior management roles at wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin and law firm Watson Burton. John's career began in regional press, where he spent over 10 years in a variety of client facing and management roles, together with being "product champion" for The Journal newspaper.

Martin Ellison, Elanders
Highly experienced and innovative, board level commercial leadership & management professional, responsible for the development and transformation of multi-faceted organisations across highly competitive market sectors. He has worked in multiply sectors i.e. automotive, manufacturing, engineering, technical applications and across geographies having lead teams in the UK, France, Germany and the USA.

Martin Hallissey, Essity
Martin is the newly-appointed site manager at Essity Prudhoe Mill. Previous to this, Martin was previously head of projects and joined the company just under a year ago from the well-known bakery and fast food retailer Greggs. Here, he was site engineering manager and led a team of 23 engineers maintaining two production factories and delivering a new facility for the bakery business – before making the move from sausage rolls to toilet rolls.

Caroline Robinson, Husqvarna UK
Caraline started her career as an Electrical Technician Apprentice with Flymo based in Durham in 1980. Later on, Flymo was purchased by Electrolux in the 80’s, and Electrolux “spun off” Husqvarna in 2007. She is now responsible for new robotic product industrialisation, and for all aspects of robotic product manufacturing from a quality delivery and cost perspective, with a focus on strategic planning and investment, as well as risk management, business continuity planning and sustainability.

Ben Russell, Department for Business & Trade
Ben currently works as Deputy Head of Investment Zones at DBT and is responsible for supporting the internationalisation and promotion of the IZ programme. Ben has held various roles across the Civil Service, including working as an Account Manager supporting the countries Higher Education providers, as a Business Analyst developing AI tools and in tax compliance.

James Sproule, Handelsbanken UK
James Sproule was appointed as Chief Economist of Handelsbanken UK in May 2020 where he has developed a trusted adviser relationship with a wide range of the banks clients as well as been an integral part of the banks broader risk management team. For much of 2019 he was a Senior Business Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson prior to which he worked with several think tanks; between 2014-2017 he was the Chief Economist and Director of Policy at the Institute of Directors.

Caroline Theobald CBE, Moderator
Caroline’s non-executive roles are focused on contributing to a vibrant and sustainable regional economy in the north of England. She is a founding director of the North East Initiative on Business Ethics (NIBE) and Teesside’s Power of Women campaign. As chair of the Advisory Board to Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, she worked with the executive on a new strategy for the School to become a force for good and is now a visiting professor at Northumbria University.