NZTE appoints five new trade commissioners

NZTE appoints five new trade commissioners

Auckland, 11 August 2014 - New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the government’s international business development agency, has appointed five new Trade Commissioners in India, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Australia and the United States.

Kevin McKenna has been appointed Trade Commissioner in Mumbai, India and will take up his role from September 2014. He joins NZTE from Transfield Services where he was Executive General Manager for the Middle East, India and Asia based in Dubai. Prior to that, he held various roles within the company including General Manager Roads (Australia and New Zealand) and Executive Director (New Zealand).

He is a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, and has held several directorships including Hofincons IT & Industrial Services, India. Kevin has a MA (Hons) from Massey University and a BSc from the University of Otago, as well as a Diploma in Business from Massey. He is also a former Wing Commander.

Haylon Smith has been appointed Trade Commissioner for the Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Haylon is also the Deputy Consul-General for Dubai and Northern Emirates.

Haylon has been responsible for NZTE’s global agribusiness programme where he worked with organisations and companies to support agribusiness exports into China, Russia, the United States, South America and Saudi Arabia.

Before joining NZTE, Haylon worked for Scion, a Crown Research Institute, where he was in the business development and commercialisation team. Haylon has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Bioscience Enterprise (Hons) from the University of Auckland.

Daniel Taylor has been appointed as Trade Commissioner responsible for the UK and Ireland, based in London.

Dan was previously Trade Commissioner and Consul-General in Melbourne, Australia. He has also previously worked as NZTE’s Ministerial Advisor in the Office of the Minister for Economic Development.

Before joining NZTE, Daniel was actively involved in exporting in the fresh produce sector. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration degree from Victoria University, Wellington.

Stephen Blair has been appointed as Trade Commissioner in Melbourne. Stephen was previously an NZTE Customer Manager based in Tauranga.

Before joining NZTE, Stephen worked in the banking sector and for the Australian Government, most recently at Austrade in New Zealand where he managed the trade and investment team. Prior to that, Stephen held a variety of senior management roles in Australia including the Australian Government’s task force responsible for developing the Global Opportunities Industry Statement, and as National Operations Manager of the business advisory service, Enterprise Connect.

Stephen attended North Carolina State University on scholarship and is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington in Economic History and History.

Adam Bennett has been appointed to a new role of Trade Commissioner for West Coast USA, based in San Francisco, where he leads NZTE’s Los Angeles and San Francisco teams. Prior to this role, Adam was a Customer Director in Auckland for three years, and has been with NZTE since 2006 working in regional development and customer-facing and leadership roles.

Before joining NZTE, Adam worked in the UK in a variety of private and public sector leadership and project roles in automotive, motorsport, and engineering. He was also involved in the setup of a biotech business incubator and an automotive innovation centre.

Adam has an Honours Degree in Mathematics, Econometrics and Statistics and a postgraduate Management qualification.

ENDS

© Scoop Media