UKIBC Team : UK India Business Council

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UKIBC Team

Richard Heald | Chief Executive

Richard Heald joined the UK India Business Council as its Chief Executive Officer in September 2010. Before joining the UKIBC, he worked as Vice Chairman, N.M.Rothschild & Sons Limited, India, where he played a key role in advising numerous UK and Indian companies on spin-offs and capital raisings, secondary capital raisings, outbound and inbound M&A as well as the provision of debt and restructuring. His transactions include advising the Mahindra Group on their acquisition of Ssangyong Motors and the sale of up to 51% of Cairn India by Cairn PLC.

He has worked for N.M.Rothschild & Sons Limited for over 17 years. He has over 30 years experience of the international financial markets, 20 years of which has been focused on advisory and capital raisings for governments and major corporate across the globe. Richard is a graduate from Oxford University with a degree in law. He is married with two daughters.

Kevin McCole | Chief Operating Officer

Kevin joined the UKIBC in December 2008, immediately following 3 years working in Kolkata as the Deputy Head of Mission at the British Deputy High Commission. In this role, Kevin helped UK businesses win contracts and find partners in Eastern India and assisted Indian companies expand into the UK. Kevin's role at the UKIBC is to co-ordinate the work of the team across the UK and Indian offices, lead the Business Services team in the UK and India, and manage relationships with members, UK Trade and Investment and other stakeholders.

Tanya Ackenson | Head of Events and Delegations

Tanya joined UKIBC in May 2010 as Senior Events and Delegations Manager. She is responsible for planning and running of all events hosted by UKIBC, partnership organisations and trade bodies both in the UK and in India. Prior to her role at UKBIC Tanya was head of events for a specialist event management company and an Account Director for a live events agency, as well as running her own events business. Tanya has worked extensively across the consumer, corporate and not for profit sectors to produce high profile conferences, road shows, launch events and large-scale exhibitions. She has worked as far afield as Hong Kong and Australia as well as in many European countries. Tanya has managed events for companies including the BBC, Tesco, British Airways, Marks & Spencer, The Council of Mortgage Lenders, Communities Local Government and Lloyds TSB.

Ishara Bhasi Callan | Head of Communications and Marketing

Ishara joined the UK India Business Council in June 2008 as Communications & Marketing Manager. She devises and implements communications and marketing strategies and runs campaigns for the organization both in the UK and India. An MBA graduate, she has over 10 years experience in the media, marketing and publishing industries. Her knowledge of international business, especialy in emerging markets, combined with strong relationship skills has helped her run successful campaigns and launch specialist publications. Prior to joining the UKIBC, she worked as the Europe correspondent for India Today/ TVToday and as Media Manager at the Commonwealth Business Council. She has worked closely with media outlets including CNBC, BBC, Economic Times, FT and SABC.

Daxa Bharadwa | Events and Delegations Co-Ordinator

Daxa joined the UKIBC in September 2010 as an Events Intern and has since become a permanent member of the team as an Events and Delegations Co-ordinator. Her main tasks are to manage the event logistics and communicate with both members and non-members. Daxa graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2009 with a BA (Hon) in Modern Languages: Spanish. Before taking up her role at UKIBC, Daxa worked in the retail sector.

Prasenjit Dhar | Business Services Manager

Prasenjit joined UKIBC in October 2010. He has over twelve years of experience in consulting, business planning, strategy formulation, economic and statistical analysis, regulatory and policy research, and industry & sector analysis. Before joining UKIBC, he worked at UKTI as Senior Trade Adviser. He has also worked with KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Indian Infrastructure. In his previous roles, Prasenjit worked with and led multi-disciplinary assignment teams.

He has a good understanding of corporate interplay and has been involved with a number of Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives. He has worked with a number of multilateral organisations like the World Bank, DFID, EU, ADB, GTZ etc on a number of their initiatives in India.

Caroline Erskine | Business Services Manager

Caroline joined UKIBC in September 2009 and is responsible for account management for members, developing member services and the UK India Business Angel Network. Prior to her role at UKIBC, Caroline worked in the international banking and global telecommunications sectors for ANZ Investment Bank and Ericsson with particular focus on trade finance in emerging markets.

Ruth Graham | Office Manager

Ruth joined IBPN in April 2007 and then moved onto the UKIBC in September 2007. She now manages all aspects of the office, as well as helps the Business Services Team and does book keeping. Previous to this role, Ruth was a Senior Training Specialist, training travel agents to use the airline systems, as well as running her own business for a number of years.

Priya Kurien | Business Services Manager, Digital Innovation and Life Sciences & Healthcare Sectors

Priya has a 17 year international career where she has worked as an experienced consultant to corporations and a hands-on coach and mentor to entrepreneurs and SMEs. She is an author and an expert on doing business in India, and the internationalisation of the technology industry. Priya has worked with some of the most reputed technology and healthcare organizations in India.

Sarah-Jane Lee | Executive Assistant

Sarah-Jane joined the UKIBC in November 2010 as Executive Assistant. She works closely with the CEO and COO providing them with full secretarial support, diary management, assistance with business development and various project work. She is also secretary to the Board.

Before joining the UKIBC, Sarah-Jane worked at Rothschild in Investment Banking as a PA providing full secretarial support to two Partners and two Managing Directors. She had a high level of client interaction and compiled presentations and reports for clients alongside events management. Previously, Sarah-Jane has worked in the recruitment field, appointing junior bankers and high level PAs to a top Investment Bank and has worked in various industries (including construction and training) as a PA/Senior Team Assistant.

Tara Panjwani | Next Generation and Business Services Manager

Tara joined the UKIBC in January 2009 as part of the Business Services Team and to manage the Next Generation Network. Her main responsibilities include account management of allocated members, delivering member services, supporting businesses and individuals interested in trade and investment with India and developing and building the Next Generation Network. Prior to her role at the UKIBC, Tara worked as a research consultant for Mirabilis Advisory Pvt Ltd and in the marketing department of the Singapore Tourism Board in Mumbai.

Sonali Patel | Business Services and Marketing Executive

Sonali joined UKIBC in November 2009 and is responsible for the management and implementation of marketing strategies, communication and business analysis while supporting businesses with their India related plans. Prior to her role at UKIBC, Sonali consulted with the US India Business Council in New York and has experience working in both public and private sector. She holds a MS in International Business.

Jesh Rajasingham | Research and Policy Manager

Jesh joined the UKIBC in January 2009 as Policy and Research Analyst. Jesh works closely with UK Trade and Investment on the JETCO initatives as well as working in partnership with external organisations on research projects for UKIBC.

Adam Pollard | Communications Officer

Adam graduated from the University of Sheffield with a BA Hons in Politics and International Relations in 2009. Prior to joining UKIBC Adam worked in communications at both Westminster City Council and NLGN - a public sector think tank.

Hayley Statter | Events and Delegations Manager

Hayley graduated from University of Kent in 2008 with BA Hons in English and American Literature. Previous to her role at UKIBC she worked with the Toynbee Hall charity in Tower Hamlets, organising a number of large charity/community events and conferences.

Adriana Vega Cerecedo | Policy and Research Officer

Adriana works in the Policy and Research Department contributing to the development of UKIBC's reports and publications. She supports our line of work on India's emerging cities and opportunities for UK Plc. Adriana joined UKIBC in July 2010, with previous experience working on trade and immigration policy issues for the government of Canada, and project management for the trade promotion agencies of Mexico and Singapore. Adriana holds an MA in International Affairs and Trade Policy.

Jagdip Mehta | Business Manager, India Office

Jagdip joined the UKIBC in May 2010. He is the main point of contact for UK members visiting India. He is a consultant by profession with a total 35 years of experience in running and managing businesses in India, especially in the health care sector. His last job was as a CEO at the Health Care Division (Dental, Ophthalmic and (Orthopaedics) of an Indian Conglomerate and has a post graduate degree in Engineering from the US.

Brian Thorp | Regional Director, North West Office

Brian heads UKIBC's North West activities chiefly recruiting businesses and representative organisations for UKIBC membership. He also aids 'Next Generation Network' in the North West to bring together young entrepreneurs with an interest in India and helping them develop business ideas. Brian has been involved in the Indian market for over 15 years. Working for United Utilities he project managed the first privately financed water project in India in Tirupur in the State of Tamil Nadu, valued at $250 million. This project is now constructed and operational. He was also instrumental in the delivery of an environmental project in Ludhiana, working closely with the Punjab State Government. Brian is a Director of Cheshire & Warrington Business Venture Ltd, where he is actively involved with the design and delivery of training and development programmes for SME's.

Neeru Sood | Senior Advisor, India Office

Before joining UKIBC, Neeru worked as a Senior Researcher with Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD), an independent research group in India. She has considerable experience of exploring education and employment opportunities for youth through field based research. More recently she worked on a long-term multi-disciplinary research project spearheaded by the Centre for Commonwealth Education, University of Cambridge on the Outcomes of Education in the spheres of Skill Development, Public Private Partnerships, Disability and Youth, Gender and Citizenship.