Speakers

Norman Rose

Norman is the Chair of SITPRO, the BIS-sponsored NDPB tasked with championing international trade facilitation in goods and services. His involvement with SITPRO dates back to the early 1990s and he has been a Board member since 1998. He previously held the position of Director-General of the Business Services Association (BSA) for 11 years. Prior to joining the BSA, Mr Rose held senior roles with several high-level organisations, including the Law Society of Scotland and the CBI. From 1988 to 1992, he served as Associate International General Counsel and Director of European Government Affairs at Electronic Data Systems Corporation, based in Brussels and Washington DC. As a Non-Executive Director of BiP Solutions since 2007, Mr Rose's market knowledge and experience has helped BiP to design and deliver new products and services tailored to fit future developments in government procurement strategies. Additionally, he is Chair of the European Business Services Roundtable which brings together 30 European trade federations representing business services providers to the public and private sectors.

Ian Lucas

Ian was appointed Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on 5 June 2009.

In 2001 Ian was elected as Member of Parliament for Wrexham. His particular interests are Home Affairs, the economy and manufacturing, the environment and overseas development. He represents a constituency with many manufacturing companies, including those in the automotive and aerospace sectors, and has a particular interest in the development of green technologies.

Before his election in 2001, Ian ran his own business as a solicitor, employing 12 people.

Ian joined the Labour Government in October 2008 as an Assistant Whip with special responsibility for the Ministry of Justice and for the Cabinet Office.

Maria Martin-Prat

Maria has a wide expertise in European law – notably the area related to the Internal Market freedoms of establishment and provision of services – as well as in international and European copyright law. She also has wide experience in drafting legislation and negotiating, both at Community and international levels. Her Unit drafted and negotiated the Directive on Services in the Internal Market, and is also responsible for the Commission's infringement procedures relating to the direct application of the EC Treaty provisions on the freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services in areas such as health, posting of workers and the regulated professions.

Nelson Jung

Associate in the European Competition and Regulation practice group in London specialising in EU and competition law. Nelson Jung is a qualified lawyer in Germany as well as a Solicitor in England and Wales. He is the author of the chapter on “Air Transport and EC competition law” in Competition Law of the European Community (LexisNexis) and has written articles on developments on EU and competition law in publications such as Competition Policy International and Competition Law Insight. Recent experience includes: Advising on mergers and acquisitions under the EC Merger Regulation, including the merger between Thomson and Reuters and the acquisition of a controlling stake in Evonik Industries by CVC Advising on mergers and acquisitions under the UK merger control regime, including the acquisition by K&F Industries by Meggitt Plc Advising on joint ventures, cartels and dawn raids, abuses of dominance as well as vertical and horizontal agreements (including distribution agreements) across a wide range of sectors, in particular air transport, retail and service sectors.

Oliver Bretz

Oliver joined Clifford Chance in 1999 and became a partner in 2002. He specialises in EC and UK competition, regulatory and trade law, in particular mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, cartels, distribution and licensing arrangements, state aid, public procurement, internal market and WTO issues across a wide range of industry sectors including financial services, media, telecommunications, e-commerce, transport, pharmaceuticals and consumer products.

Oliver graduated from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge University (M.A. (law) 1992 and LL.M. (European and Public International Law) 1993) and College of Law, London 1994. He qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 1996 and was admitted to the New York Bar in 2002.. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Competition Law Association.

Tina Sommer

Tina is the Chairman, EU and International Affairs of the Federation of Small Businesses in the UK (FSB) and President of the European Small Business Alliance, which represents the interest of small business organisations on a pan-European level. She has served in the FSB for 12 years, previously holding portfolios such as Trade and Industry and Vice Chairman of Welsh Policy. Her background is in small business, with her entire family running small businesses in various industries and countries. Tina is a director of Froben Ltd., a consultancy specialising in Administration Analysis and IT. Her work is carried out in a variety of industries such as manufacturing, engineering, catering, tourism, the timber industry and retail. She has worked in countries including the Baltic States, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and a number of EU States. Tina is commited to improving the environment for small and medium size businesses whilst running her own business and keeping in close touch with other businesses to identify issues and problems.

John Alty

As Director General, Fair Markets since September 2005, John is responsible for BIS’s interest in a wide range of policy and regulatory areas which set the framework for business, employees and consumers, in the UK, within the EU and internationally. John is also the BIS sponsor Board Member for The Insolvency Service and Companies House.

John joined the then Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) in 1978. He has worked in DTI throughout his career, except for a two-year secondment to the European Secretariat of the Cabinet Office in the mid 1980s. John’s previous post was head of Business Relations in DTI (2002-2005). In this role he was responsible for the DTI’s interest in various business sectors (aerospace, automotive, minerals and metals, environmental industry, etc) and policy on manufacturing. Previous jobs have included overall responsibility for DTI’s European policy for competition policy and insurance regulation as well as acting as private secretary to a number of Ministers.