Acknowledgments
Adalberto Netto
Head of Marketing and Business Development, Apex Brasil
Mr. Netto is leading the digital transformation & digital strategy of IPAs in Brazil. He is a +20 years experienced global investment promotion executive & consultant. As the former CEO of Invest in Parana he helped the state to be the #1 in South America. He also served as Steering Committee Director of WAIPA and is a Harvard graduate.
Ahmad Numan
Group Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications, RAKEZ
In Ahmad’s current role, he oversees marketing and communications strategies and world-wide execution at Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ). He is responsible for driving FDI attraction through a mix of marketing channels while reinforcing the economic zone’s value prepositions and reputation. He was also named by Forbes as one of the Middle East’s top 50 marketing and communications executives in 2020.
Ahmet Ihsan Erdem
Vice President, Investment Office of the Presidency of Republic of Turkey
Before assuming his recent position, Ahmet worked as Head of Department of Investor Services. Prior to joining the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey, Ahmet worked for the private sector, mainly in construction and retail sectors. Ahmet is a graduate of Bilkent University with BA in International Relations, also holding an MBA degree from Lubin School of Business at Pace University, New York.
Anisa Muhammad Ali
Assistant Vice President, Strategy and Execution, Dubai CommerCity
Anisa has more than 12 years of experience as Marketing Strategist, managing marketing and communication, brand development, market research, product development, pricing strategies and lead management. In her current role, she is contributing to the development of a new e-commerce free zone that will disrupt the way business is done in the region. She guides businesses in identifying markets, competitors and consumer behaviors.
Anne-Marie Tierney-Le Roux
Head of Regional Development, IDA Ireland
Anne-Marie has 19 years’ experience in the global investment environment with IDA Ireland, taking up her current role in January 2017. She has specific responsibility for leading a geographically diverse team in the overall management and execution of Regional Development objectives for the country. Under IDA Ireland’s Winning 2015-2019 Strategy, IDA delivered an uplift in Regional investments across Ireland.
Beligh Ben Soltane
Chairman, Tunisia Investment Authority
Beligh is an experienced International Marketing and FDI Specialist with a strong track record of success in the government administration industry. In early 2019, Beligh was appointed as CEO and Chairman of Tunisia Investment Authority “TIA”, a lead governmental organisation in charge of encouraging and facilitating national and international businesses to set up and expand their activities in Tunisia.
Christopher Chen
Head of investment Promotion Canada, InvestHK
Christopher is head of the InvestHK presence for Canada, responsible for driving FDI from Canadian organisations to Hong Kong and Asia Pacific. Prior to InvestHK, he was a senior fintech professional, leading marketing and customer engagement initiatives for financial services companies throughout Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has a MA from UBC with post-graduates from NTNU (Taiwan) and the Yusof Ishak Institute/ISEAS (Singapore).
David Parker
Former Chief Investment Officer, Bahrain EDB
David works with cities, regions and countries globally, assisting them with their investment attraction and economic development. Assignments have included representing Hong Kong in Europe, Wales and New York, and most recently, five years in the Middle East with Bahrain Economic Development Board where he was Co-Chief Investment Officer and also Board Member at Bahrain Fintech Bay.
Elena Gallego Cañabate
Head of the Investment Promotion Division, Invest in Andalucía, Agency for Innovation & Development of Andalusia
Mrs. Gallego has developed her professional career in the field of international trade and investment. Prior to her current role, she worked for the Economy and Trade Office of the Spanish Embassies in Chile, South Africa and Mozambique as a Market Analyst, supporting exports and investments by Spanish companies. This allowed her to understand the needs of companies that come to a new country.
George Campanellas
Chief Executive Officer, Invest Cyprus - CIPA
George is the Chief Executive Officer of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency (Invest Cyprus) and the Vice President of the Cyprus Investment Funds Association (CIFA). He has nearly twenty years of professional experience in Cyprus and abroad, working with the DG Competition in Brussels and directly with the Cypriot Ministers of Health and Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism.
James Milne
Former Head of Investment Promotion, WESGRO
James Milne was the Head of Investment Promotion at Wesgro, the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape. James oversaw a team of portfolio managers supporting investment into key sectors of the economy, and spent more than 10 years working with multinationals (including Amazon, Hisense, Kimberly-Clarke and Panasonic) in the commercialisation of their projects.
Juan Sebastian Perez Villarreal
Corporate Affairs, Strategy, Relations and Business Development, Invest in Bogota
Juan Sebastian is a leader of foreign investment in the life science industry. He holds over 10 years of professional experience as a senior foreign investment advisor, collaborating with organisations such as Procolombia and Invest in Bogotá by supporting global players from several countries in Asia, Europe, North and South America in their expansion strategy. Previous roles include legal advisor and lecturer.
Karl Gudmundsson
Director of Trade and Invest, Invest Iceland
Karl is the Director of Trade and Invest at Business Iceland where he is responsible for a team of specialists attracting FDI to Iceland. He has over 20 years of international experience in strategic leadership roles, product development, product management, sales and marketing. In his career he has participated in four start-ups in Europe and the US, mainly in the medtech and pharma sectors.
Lionel Grotto
CEO, Choose Paris Region
Lionel Grotto holds a Master’s degree in engineering and a Master in Business Administration. He started his career at BNP Paribas IT department and EDF Energies Nouvelles in Italy. He then joined the French Treasury as Financial counsellor at the French Embassy in Mexico, before becoming advisor for Economic Affairs to the President of the Paris Region.
Mikheil Khidureli
CEO, Enterprise Georgia
Mikheil is the CEO of “Enterprise Georgia” - a government economic development Agency operating under Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. Prior to his appointment as the head of the Agency in early 2018, he served as a Founder/ Partner of SavvY Consulting and SavvY Education, which specializes in investor relationships, executive management, business development, coaching and leadership.
Nabil Moutran
Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Bahrain EDB
Nabil Moutran is a marketing and communications professional with over 2 decades’ experience across a wide range of marketing and communications practices. Nabil has excelled in leading award winning work across various global brands such as IBM, Coca-Cola, Unilever and Nestle. In 2020, Nabil moved to Bahrain to take on the role of Chief Marketing & Communications officer of Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB).
Pilar Madrigal
Director, Investment Advisory, CINDE
Pilar joined CINDE in 1998 and during her career there, she has been instrumental in developing strategies, activities, and programs to promote foreign direct investment into Costa Rica. In her current role, she is also responsible for defining and optimising the department's functions to ensure seamless execution of activities, which included strategic planning and implementation as well as program development, implementation, and coordination.
Raido Lember
Business development manager, Enterprise Estonia
Raido has restructured the Estonian Investment Agency team towards greater quality and results in FDI attraction and landing. He has led the progression and innovation of the agency, heading teams such as e-Residency and Work in Estonia. His team has received a number of best regional IPA awards by WAIPA and in 2020 the best global IPA award for progressive digitisation by UNCTAD.
Russell Curtis
CEO, Invest Durban
Russell has 30 years Business experience in the Corporate Banking, Financial Services, & Investment Advisory industries, whilst remaining active on various Social Justice, Developmental, and Philanthropic platforms. He has run the Durban Investment Promotion Authority, known as Invest Durban, for 18 years. He’s a NED of the Durban Chamber of Commerce, the Durban Auto Cluster, & past Chairman of the Institute of Directors, KZN.
Salvatore Di Giovanni Vergara
Head of the Investment Promotion Team, InvestChile
Salvatore is Head of the Investment Promotion Division at InvestChile, leading investment facilitation initiatives and the practice of attracting companies in the global services and digital economy sectors. Salvatore is Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Chile, and has a Master in both Quantitative Finance and Logistics Management, from the University of Sydney Business School.
Simon Galpin
Former Senior Advisor, Bahrain EDB
Dr. Simon Galpin initially joined the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) in 2016 as Managing Director. He was recruited to develop the EDB into a full-service investment promotion agency and as a catalyst for economic diversification and regulatory reform. For four years the EDB has delivered a four-fold increase in the number investors supported per year, resulting in record FDI flows and jobs created.
Sirpa Tsimal
Director Investment Promotion, Switzerland Global Enterprise
Sirpa has 15+ years of experience working with and leading international teams in marketing communications, business development, market entry and strategic innovation projects. Currently, she is Director for Investment Promotion at Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE), where she focuses her work on emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, personalized health, robotics and advanced manufacturing in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) to Switzerland.
Stephen Phillips
Director General, Invest Hong Kong
Stephen works with the Government Department in Hong Kong responsible for attracting and facilitating foreign direct investment into the country. Focused on Asia for more than thirty years, Stephen first moved to Hong Kong in 1989, holding senior investment banking positions with Deutsche and BZW/Barclays Capital before co-founding a Hong Kong-based group of companies providing IT, financial and consultancy services across Asia.
Tim Newns
CEO, MIDAS
Tim became CEO in 2011, having originally joined as Business Development Manager in 2005. Over his 16 years with MIDAS, Manchester has become one of the most invested in cities in the UK. Previously, Tim worked as a journalist with the Cape Argus newspaper in Cape Town, the Daily Times in Pakistan and the Commercial Department of the Foreign Office in India.
Trini Bofarull Masip
FDI Director, Catalonia Trade and Investment
Trini holds 20 years experience in helping companies and institutions expand internationally, specialising in American Markets, both USA and Latin America. The Financial Times publication fDi Magazine has recognised Catalonia as the most attractive region in Southern Europe in terms of foreign investment for 2018, 2019 and 2020, and ACCIÓ as The Best IPA of the Year 2019.
Vinay Guddye
Director, Global Outreach, Mauritius EDB
Vinay holds a BSc Electro-Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Business Leadership. He started his career as a design engineer, later becoming a project engineer for Unilever before moving into Supply Chain Management. He has worked with global organisations, combining his on-field experience across Africa in Supply Chain and logistics and his current duties in Trade & Investment promotion across Africa.
Vincent Gollain
Chief Economic Development Officer, Paris Region Institute
Vincent Gollain is a recognised professional of Economic Development. He is the Chief Economic Development Officer of L’Institut Paris Region, a non-profit association for Better Living Cities based in Paris, France. Vincent heads the Economic Department, a team of 20 people. He published several articles about Greater Paris and advises policy makers to foster the economic development of a territory.
Yofi Grant
CEO, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre
Yofi is a renowned Ghanaian investment banker with over 30 years of extensive experience in banking and finance. He is a council member of the Continental Business Network of the African Union and partner and co-founder of Grant Dupuis Investment Limited and Coldwell Banker Ghana. He currently serves on the Ghana Export Promotion Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration board.