Trade Conference 2025: Future-Proofing UK Tech: Growth and Resilience in an Uncertain World

Amar Breckenridge

Senior Associate, Frontier Economics

Amar Breckenridge leads Frontier Economics work on international trade and related issues. A particular focus of his work is on the analysis and modelling of trade policy interventions and agreements, including those that lie at the intersection with broader policy issues such as technological change, economic security and climate change. Amar began his career in trade policy as a staff economist at the WTO, where he worked on development issues and with the WTO’s Trade Policy Review Mechanism.

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Amanda Brooks

Director General for Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations, Department for Business and Trade

Amanda Brooks has been Director General for Trade Policy, Implementation and Negotiations in the Department for Business and Trade since June 2021. Amanda leads teams: negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) and leading the DBT contribution to the reset of the UK-EU relationship; implementing some trade agreements, including aspects of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement and Windsor Framework; providing policy leadership for work on market access, multilateral trade, and development of broader economic relationships; and developing related domestic regulatory policy to improve trade and domestic outcomes together.

Amanda joined the then Department for International Trade in 2016. Her prior roles include Director of Business Innovation, and Deputy High Commissioner and Director of Trade and Investment in Singapore. Amanda holds an MBA from Imperial College.

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Sabina Ciofu

Associate Director – International, techUK

Sabina leads techUK's international policy and engagement. Based in Brussels, she manages our EU policy priorities as well as our international trade agenda.

Sabina leads techUK’s engagement with the European Union institutions, as well as the EU Member States. Outside of the EU, her work is focused on key trade partners, such as the USA and Japan, as well as key international organisations, such as the WTO and the OECD. Previously, she worked as Policy Advisor in the European Parliament for almost a decade, where she specialised in tech regulation, international trade and EU-US relations.

Sabina is the founder of the Gentlewomen’s Club, co-organiser of the Young Professionals in Digital Policy and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community, where she has led several youth civic engagement and gender equality projects.

She holds an MA in War Studies from King’s College London and a BA in Classics from the University of Cambridge.

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Nick Dean

Deputy Director, National and Economic Security, DSIT

Nick Dean is the Deputy Director, National and Economic Security at DSIT. In this role, Nick leads the department's efforts to foster economic growth while mitigating potential national security risks. He played a pivotal role in the creation of DSIT's initial launch strategy and led the delivery of the national approach to science and technology across HM Government. With two decades of experience as a UK diplomat, Nick has a background in China, national security, and economics. He has served with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the National Security Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, including a posting and language training in Hong Kong. 

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Johanna Hill

Deputy Director-General, World Trade Organization

Johanna Hill is a Deputy Director-General at the World Trade Organization, a position she assumed on 13 November 2023. With over 30 years of experience in international trade, Ms Hill, a native of El Salvador, has collaborated with governments and businesses to foster economic development through international policy and trade negotiations.

Before joining the WTO, Ms Hill advised firms and SMEs on trade regulations, foreign direct investment strategies, and market access. She has also held senior roles in financial institutions and has leadership experience in telecommunications regulation. Additionally, she served as Vice Minister of Economy for El Salvador, where she oversaw trade policy formulation and negotiated both bilateral and multilateral trade agreements.

In her role as Deputy Director-General, Ms Hill leads the WTO’s work on economic research and statistics, digital trade, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, trade in services and investment, and documentation and information management.

She holds a bachelor's degree from Tufts University and a master’s degree from Columbia University and serves on the board of TradeExperettes.

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Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business and Trade, and Baroness in Waiting (Government Whip) on 9 July 2024.

Baroness Jones joined the House of Lords in 2006. She has previously served as Shadow Spokesperson for:

Science, Innovation and Technology from 2023 to 2024
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2015 to 2022
Education from 2011 to 2015
Culture, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2014
She was previously a trade union official, including as Director of Policy and Public Affairs for UNISON from 1994 to 2006.

Baroness Jones was previously Chair of Rothamsted Enterprises at the Rothamsted research institute, a Board member at Ombudsman Services, a member of the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice Panel, and Vice chair of Circle Housing Group.

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Scott Marshall

CEO / Founder & Exec Producer, BCVR

Scott Marshall is CEO / Founder & Exec Producer at BCVR, specialising in applications across XR (AR, VR, MR, Spatial Computing, Digital Transformation) for B2B, B2G, and B2C sectors. Our projects span climate and environmental initiatives (including carbon solutions), transportation, entertainment, museum, experiential and commercial, serving both international and Fortune 100 companies

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L. Daniel Mullaney

Former US chief negotiator for the US-UK and US-EU comprehensive trade agreements,

L. Daniel Mullaney is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and GeoEconomics Center. Most recently, he served as assistant US trade representative (AUSTR) for Europe and the Middle East in the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) from 2010 to 2023. He was chief negotiator for comprehensive trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom, as well as trade lead for the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, and was responsible for developing and implementing US trade policy in Europe, Eurasia, Russia, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Before assuming the post of AUSTR, he served as senior trade representative in the US Mission to the European Union in Brussels, where he was the principal voice for US trade policy in interactions with the EU institutions and EU member state governments, the public, and the international press. Prior to that posting, Mullaney was in USTR’s Office of General Counsel for seven years, where he represented the United States in dispute settlement proceedings at the World Trade Organization and led negotiations and acted as legal counsel for free trade and other agreements. Before joining USTR, Mullaney was in private practice for nearly twenty years, specializing in international trade law and litigation; when he entered public service, he was a partner at the law firm of Dorsey and Whitney.

Mullaney is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He holds a BA from Amherst College, and a joint law/foreign service JD/MSFS degree from Georgetown University.

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Andrew Rose

Associate, Baker & McKenzie LLP

Andrew Rose is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie’s international trade team in London, with experience in trade and corporate compliance. Andrew’s practice focusses on advising clients on compliance with UK and EU sanctions and export controls, as well as anti-bribery and anti-facilitation of tax evasion matters. Andrew has significant experience advising clients in relation to trade compliance matters across a number of sectors, including technology, healthcare, consumer goods, defence, energy, and transport. Andrew has advised extensively on sanctions and export control licensing and enforcement, including significant investigations and enforcement matters involving the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation and HM Revenue and Customs. Andrew also advises on compliance risk assessments, compliance policies and procedures, and internal investigations.

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Sam Sharps

Executive Director, Policy, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Sam joined the Institute in 2022 to lead a team across four continents providing policy research and analysis for political leaders, specialising in how technology is changing the role of governments. Before joining TBI he worked on public policy for Apple at a UK, Ireland and European level, across every issue from cyber-security to digital education, media regulation and climate change. Prior to joining Apple he was a consultant for four years, and spent a decade as a UK government official.

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Madelaine Tuininga

Minister Counsellor for Trade Affairs, Delegation of the European Union to the United Kingdom

Madelaine Tuininga currently works at the EU delegation to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as Minister Counsellor for Trade Affairs. Between 2007 and 2024, she held various management positions in the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission. Areas included the trade and sustainable development agenda (labour, environment, climate, human rights, responsible business conduct) in autonomous (EU measures), unilateral (Generalised System of Preferences), bilateral (free trade agreements) and multilateral setting (World Trade Organisation, OECD, G20, G7); trade defence investigations; market access; and industrial sectors, raw materials and energy covering policy development, market access activities, negotiation and implementation of the trade agenda in these areas. She was coordinator and market access negotiator for free trade agreements with Mexico, Chile and Mercosur (1998-2003) and for WTO accessions (Russia) (2004-2006). Before joining the Commission (1995-1998), she worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands where she was policy officer for the US and Canada and for some WTO dossiers (intellectual property and government procurement). Madelaine Tuininga holds a law degree from the University of Amsterdam.

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Antony Walker

Deputy CEO, techUK

Antony Walker is deputy CEO of techUK,  which he played a lead role in launching in November 2013.

Antony is a member of the senior leadership team and has overall responsibility for techUK’s policy work. Prior to his appointment in July 2012 Antony was chief executive of the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG), the UK’s independent advisory group on broadband policy. Antony was closely involved in the development of broadband policy development in the UK since the BSG was established in 2001 and authored several major reports to government. He also led the development of the UK’s world leading Open Internet Code of Practice that addresses the issue of net neutrality in the UK. Prior to setting up the BSG, Antony spent six years working in Brussels for the American Chamber of Commerce following and writing about telecoms issues and as a consultant working on EU social affairs and environmental issues. Antony is a graduate of Aberdeen University and KU Leuven and is also a Policy Fellow Alumni of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University.

: @techUKdepceo

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Lewis Walmesley-Browne

Head of Market Access and Consumer Tech, techUK

Lewis' programmes cover a range of policy areas within Market Access (international trade regulation, sanctions and export controls, technical standards and product compliance, supply chains) and Consumer Tech (media and broadcast policy, consumer electronics, and connected home technology).

Prior to joining techUK, Lewis worked in government affairs and policy roles for international trade associations in Southeast Asia including the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce and the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia.

He holds an undergraduate degree in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Public Policy & Management from SOAS University of London.

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Louise West

Ecosystem Partner Director, Adarga

No bio provided

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