Global Brunch

Lloyd Broad

Head of European and International Affairs, Birmingham City Council

Lloyd started at Birmingham City Council in 1985, taking up roles in the Council’s Treasury and Economic Development Departments before moving to European and International Affairs in 1997 and  being appointed to the position of Head of Department in May 2012.This position covers the responsibilities of;

1. Birmingham’s Formal International ‘Sister City’ partnerships –Managing the City Council's formal partner and sister city relationships with cities including Chicago, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Changchun, Johannesburg, Lyon, Frankfurt, Milan and Leipzig. Informal relationships exist with over 70 other cities worldwide.

2. European and International policy, projects and networks – Managing the City Council's International engagement including leading on engagement in various networks, such as EUROCITIES and the Birmingham Strategic Alliance which brings together strategic partners in Birmingham for aligned City/International engagement. Lloyd also oversees the management of a range of transnational projects.

3. European and external funding – current portfolio includes both EU and domestic funding. This includes managing a new £27m UK Shared Prosperity Fund programme and a £6.2m Innovation Accelerator project.

4. Economic and Place Strategy – part of the BCC leadership team developing the city’s new Economic Place Strategy, Governance and implementation arrangements for post April 2025 Integrated Settlement funding.

In addition to the role of Head of European and International Affairs, in March 2018, Lloyd also took on the additional role of Interim Head of Employment and Skills managing a team of 30+ staff for a period of 12 months up to April 2019.

Almost 40 years working in Local Government are supported by an MBA in Public Sector Management.

Paul Brooks

Head of UK Nations & Regions/UK Manufacturing Sector Lead, Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade

Paul joined the Chartered Institute in May 2022 to build its profile and brand in Wales.

He sits on Welsh Government’s Trade Policy Advisor Group (TPAG) and is a member of the Wales Business Council.

From June 2023 Paul’s brief has widened to include the other devolved nations of the UK and regions wit England. Paul now leads colleagues who build the profile and brand of the Chartered Institute across the United Kingdom and within the UK Manufacturing sector.

Since November 2023, Paul is also Chair of the E-Commerce Trade Commission’s (ECT-C) Financial Services Working Group. The Chartered Institute have convened the UK’s first ever ECT-C. This was launched in June 2023 and will work on solutions to encourage small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to trade internationally online.

Prior to the Chartered Institute, Paul spent over 30 years in the Corporate & Commercial Banking world supporting businesses to trade internationally with a particular focus on the manufacturing sector. In his last banking role, he led Santander’s UK Manufacturing Sector team.

Ian Harrison

Head of Export Development, Department for Business and Trade (DBT) Midlands

Ian has over 30 years’ experience of dealing with publicly funded business support and has worked in several organisations in roles that have provided advice and expertise to all sizes of business.  

Ian’s current responsibilities are to lead on the promotion and development of Export Support services and Trade Policy within the Midlands, work closely with Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He manages teams responsible for customer engagement, events and marketing, central support functions, FTA implementation as well as having an Overseas team that has officers based in India, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe looking for commercial opportunities for Midlands’ businesses.

Ian is a member of the Society of Professional Economists, he is an Advisory Board member at the University of Nottingham’s Business School, a member of the FCDO Expert Panel for Business Integrity Initiative, a member of the Kings Awards Steering Committee for the Midlands and is a Member of the Institute of Export.

Mark Lynam

Export Finance Manager for Greater Birmingham and Leicestershire, UK Export Finance

Mark Lynam joined UK Export Finance in 2021 as the regional representative covering Birmingham and Leicestershire. He previously enjoyed a 39-year career in the Banking and Financial Services industry, spending the latter thirteen years as a regional Trade Director for RBS/NatWest.

Mark has a proven track record of helping organisations to expand, having helped hundreds of businesses to commence their international trade journey in addition to assisting more established exporters to achieve their global growth ambitions.

He remains a strong advocate of international trade and is passionate about the benefits that exporting brings to businesses, individuals, local communities and the wider UK. He now uses his knowledge, experience and network to help UK businesses to overcome the financial obstacles that can act as barriers to trade and help them to win export contracts, fulfil orders and get paid.