Global Business Conference

Caroline Miller OBE

Chief Executive, Birmingham Royal Ballet

She is the Chief Executive at Birmingham Royal Ballet working with ballet superstar, Carlos Acosta, who is Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet. Caroline was previously Executive Director of Orlando Ballet in America and Director of Dance UK for ten years, the national industry  body representing the professional dance sector. During her tenure she was recognized in the Evening Standard list of 1000 most influential Londoners for her work launching the National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science. She started her career as a box office assistant and worked as a theatre marketing manager. She was a publicist for major arts venues in London, including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Southbank Centre, Sadler’s Wells and the publishers Phaidon Press. She has an MA in Cultural Leadership at City University, London and was a Fellow of the De Vos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, USA. In 2016 Caroline was awarded the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance at the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards and in 2017 she was awarded an OBE for Services to the Arts.

Ryan Howell

UK Sales Manager, Rohlig UK

Ryan Howell, Rohlig UK Bio

Ryan is a seasoned logistics and sales leader with nearly 3 decades of industry experience. He has held senior roles at various global logistics organisations, leading high-performing sales teams.

Since joining Röhlig UK Ltd (Röhlig Logistics), Ryan has been instrumental in driving the company's UK growth, specialising in trade to and from the USA, South Africa, Australia, and the Far East. He has pushed our Sales Apprenticeship Programme at Röhlig to stimulate growth by bringing in fresh, diverse ideas and sharing knowledge with the next wave of logistics superstars. All this as well as focusing on providing premium solutions for key industries such as the beverage, healthcare and automotive sectors. Ryan has even managed to find time to celebrate Röhlig's 172nd birthday in May 2024.

Under his guidance, the team at Röhlig has expanded to include specialists in Middle Eastern trade and promising young talent. Ryan's extensive experience, combined with Röhlig's global network and core values, make for a potent combination.

"The Global Business Conference is an excellent opportunity to start building business relationships and grow your network," Ryan shared. "It's a valuable platform to discuss new international opportunities, gain insights into the current state of trade in the UK, and engage in specialist panel discussions around key markets."

Katie Trout

Director of Policy & Partnerships, West Midlands Growth Company,

As Director of Policy and Partnerships at the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), Katie led on the development of the organisation’s Business Plan - Global West Midlands – which sets out how the key functional areas of inward investment, capital attraction, the visitor economy and strategic relationship management will be used to address regional challenges and capitalise on opportunities; thereby strengthening the West Midlands global competitiveness. Katie is also leading on the development of the West Midlands International Strategy. Its purpose is to shape the region’s collective international effort and resources to elevate the region’s presence and impact on the global stage. Prior to joining WMGC, Katie was Chief Executive of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP), a company limited by guarantee. She was responsible for developing and delivering its ambitious Strategic Economic Plan, securing £357m of Growth Deal Funding from Government, overseeing the development of the £1bn Enterprise Zone Investment Plan with Birmingham City Council and establishing the LEP’s Growth Hub which utilised £2m of ERDF to deliver business support

Shaun Gray

European Managing Director, Ginho Group

Shaun Gray has a nearly 30-year career in manufacturing and is currently European Managing Director for Ginho, a specialist automotive components manufacturer, responsible for all European Sites and Operations. Shaun is passionate about delivering value for all Ginho stakeholders.

Shaun’s career includes European Sales Director for global metal castings company Metaltek International and Sales Director for Stoke on Trent based machinery manufacturer Goodwin International.

Shaun is also the previous President of Burton and District Chamber of Commerce, and currently sits on the committee of the Greater Birmingham Global Chamber of Commerce.

Ginho operate across the UK, Europe, US and Mexico is set to grow exponentially by 2030, with 2024 expected to be another record-breaking year.

Dr Nasir Awan MBE DL

C.E.O, Awan Marketing Plc

Started in business in 1978 in retail, where he joined his late father, 1980 set up wholesale of consumer electronics and became one of UK’s major distributors for brands like SONY, PANASONIC and HITACHI. Was the largest independent distributor in the 80’s UK for TDK audio and video tapes.

When the brands started supplying direct to the retailers, than stared importing Housewares and everyday use products from China, where we have an established staffed office. The company is now run by the 3^rd generation operating from a 45’000 sq ft head office and showroom, supplying UK retailers as well as exporting to Europe and Africa.    

President of the Asian Chamber of Commerce 2011-2014

Executive Director Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce

Chair Inspire Education Academy

Trustee Euro Charity Trust 

Was awarded an MBE  2014 for services to Business and International Trade

Deputy Lieutenant , West Midlands Lieutenancy appointed 2017

Dr Raymond Davies Phd

Chair, BritishAmerican Business Pacific Northwest

Dr. Davies is highly experienced in international business and Global Value Chain (GVC) development enabling sectorial market capture within niche markets arising from geo-political opportunity and innovation. He has extensive business experience in the United States having lived and worked in Seattle/Puget Sound for over a decade before returning home to the UK. Working across a number of sectors including aerospace, defence, health/ care, space and sports in the UK-US Trade corridor he is Chair of the BritishAmerican Business Council of the Pacific Northwest (BABC-PNW) and a Board Member of the British-American Business Network (BABN). He obtained his B.Sc. (Hons) from Aston University, Birmingham and his Ph.D./D.I.C. from Imperial College, London

Shah Karim

Founder, Sovereign Landmark

Shah Karim is an Investment and Asset Manager operating exclusively in the U.S. market. He began his legal career at PwC UK, then studied International Law at Cornell University in New York before transitioning to real estate investment in the U.S. With 20 years of experience, he specialises in transforming distressed real estate into high-yielding investment properties in the U.S. He has lived in and operated business activities in Florida, New York, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.

Additionally, as a technology and international trade entrepreneur he has developed new business models for the US markets.

His second home is in Detroit, Michigan, but he has been managing his operations remotely from Birmingham, UK since 2016, with regular visits to the US.

He is currently the Vice President of the Transatlantic Chamber of Commerce. He obtained his LLB (Hons) from the University of Leicester,  LLM (Commercial Law) from the University of Birmingham.

Andrea Edwards

Director of Global Relations and Research, University of Birmingham

Andréa is Director of Global Relations and Research at the University of Birmingham, where she has responsibility for leading the University’s global engagement agenda in key strategic regions, with a focus on international research collaboration.

 

Andréa has over 25 years’ experience in education management, initially within domestic and international student recruitment at Southampton and Aston Universities where she led successful recruitment strategies with demonstrable results.

 

During her time at Birmingham, Andréa has led on key aspects of the University’s internationalisation agenda, including student recruitment, international student support, student mobility, international and diplomatic relations.

 

Her current remit includes responsibility for Birmingham’s global engagement strategy in Europe and the Americas, having overseen the development of strategic alliances with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and McMaster University, and a decade of purposeful engagement in Brazil for which the University won a Times Higher Award for Internationalisation.

Tim Luft

Entrepreneur and Create Central Innovation Lead,

Tim is a Digital Media Entrepreneur focused on virtual reality (VR) building on expertise in the UK Video game industry. He has run Regional Innovation programmes for the UK Government and supported in the establishment of University Institutes researching 3D environment for teaching and learning. Recently he established a VR development studio in the West Midlands (exited in 2020). Tim is the Innovation lead for Create Central supporting an ecosystem which encourages cross sector collaboration with the regional digital creative sector. He also mentors entrepreneurs developing new technology solutions, sits on the Telford Business Board and is an advisor for the DiT Global Entrepreneur Programme.

Trudi Sully

UK and Europe Lead - Industrialised Design & Construction, Mott MacDonald

Trudi is the UK & Europe Lead for Industrialised Design & Construction at Mott MacDonald, where a rapidly growing team is integrating innovative processes into how we deliver our built environment to unlock greater social, economic, and environmental outcomes.

Prior to joining Mott MacDonald, Trudi spent 7 years as a director at a West Midlands R&D centre, including taking a leading role in establishing and running the Construction Innovation Hub. Working with government and industry this programme developed approaches that enable improved productivity, performance and resilience, and produced guidance and tools to support realisation of policy ambitions.

Her eclectic career journey spans a broad range of industries, but with a common theme of engaging with leaders - from SMEs to multi-nationals and government departments - to tackle challenges and support transformation and growth.

Professor Alex De Ruyter

Director of Centre for Brexit Studies, Birmingham City University

Alex de Ruyter is a professor at Birmingham City University and serves as Director of its Centre for Brexit Studies. He brings a wealth of research experience and academic engagement in the areas of globalisation, regional economic development, labour market and social exclusion issues. He has published over 80 academic outputs in leading national and international economic journals and has been the recipient of research funding, including being Principal Investigator in a British Academy funded study on securing a successful transition to Net Zero in the West Midlands and Australian automotive sectors. He has also undertaken commissioned research for the West Midlands Combined Authority, Midlands Engine, Catapult, and the British Council, looking that the impact on manufacturing in the UK and India of various “disruptive” influences including Brexit, Covid, digitalisation and the challenge of transitioning to a green economy.

Professor de Ruyter has undertaken numerous media interviews and is currently undertaking comparative research between the West Midlands and Northeast on the likely impact of Net Zero and digitalisation on the UK automotive supply chain and automotive workforce in addition to exploring working in the "gig economy".

Professor de Ruyter is a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association (RSA) and also served as a Board member of the RSA, advising then on Brexit-related issues

Rob Janering

Partner, VAT and Customs Duty Services, Crowe UK

Rob leads Crowe UK's Corporate Indirect Tax team that comprises almost 20 people focussed on VAT, Customs and other indirect taxes such as Plastic Packaging Tax (PPT) plus reporting obligations like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Rob is based in Crowe UK’s London office but work nationally.

Rob started his indirect tax career with HMRC over 20 years ago before moving into practice to provide consulting advice. Rob’s career to date includes time spent at Top 10, Big 4 and boutique consulting firms as well as over one year working in-house at a large TMT multinational.

Rob’s focus industry sectors are retail, distribution, and manufacturing but he works with all types of businesses and particularly those that are trading into or with the EU. Rob enjoys providing clear and practical advice to his clients, being able to explain the intricacies and nuances of VAT in a concise and simple manner is something that he prides himself on. This is increasingly important as the rules in these regions develop, changing both how and where VAT is due plus how returns and declarations are made to tax authorities. Crowe UK helps clients with the provision of advice, managing tax authority disputes, enabling new technology and ensuring efficient refunds.

Rob is holds membership of both Chartered Institute of Taxation (ATT and CTA qualified) and also of the ICAEW.

Dirk Virlee

Trade & Investment Counsellor, Flanders Investment & Trade

Dirk Verlee obtained a Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics (interpreter) at HRIVT, now VUB (Brussels University), in 1983. He started his professional career with KBC-bank after which he worked as a schoolteacher and principal for an American school in Oviedo (Spain).

In 1992 he started working as a commercial attaché for the Belgian government in Algiers and went on to become an Economic Representative for Flanders, respectively in Tunis and Paris, where he became the Regional Coordinator for the neighbouring countries. On 15 July 2006, he took up his function as the Economic Representative for Flanders in Los Angeles and the Regional Coordinator for North and South America. In 2009 he became an Economic Representative for Flanders at the in Madrid and as from August 2016 he did the same job in The Hague (the Netherlands).

On 1 November 2021 Dirk joined the London office of Flanders Investment & Trade as the Head of office. He has also been the regional coordinator for the North of Europe.