This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Dominic Meiklejohn

Part of UK in USA [New York]

17th August 2011 New York, USA

New York Welcomes Susan Haird, Acting Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment

Guest blog by Amita Randhawa, UKTI Regional Director, North-East USA
Though August is traditionally a quiet month, New York has been positively buzzing over the past few weeks. Following the exciting arrival on 1 August of our new Consul-General, Danny Lopez, we welcomed Susan Haird, acting Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment, last week for an extensive programme of engagements. Susan’s programme addressed the London 2012 Olympics, Tech City (the East London home of one of the largest concentrations of small, fast-growing digital technology companies in Europe), and opportunities in the infrastructure, retail and hospitality markets. 

A highlight of Susan’s two day trip was a dinner held at Consul-General Lopez’s residence that brought together companies from the US retail and hospitality sectors. We are seeing an increasing number of US companies in retail and hospitality sectors looking to expand into the UK market and to make the most of new opportunities presented by the 2012 Olympics. The UK retail sector is the third largest in the world after the USA and Japan, and sales have steadily grown over the recent years to almost £300 billion a year. London recorded retail sales of £62 billion last year – that’s more than LA, Milan, Rome, Madrid and Berlin combined! That figure should be boosted by the arrival of several more of the world’s leading retail brands to the UK: Victoria’s Secret opens its flagship London store next year, the company’s first in Europe; Tory Burch, another hugely popular US brand, has seen a strong first year for its new London store; and Sushi Samba’s new restaurants are coming to London early in 2012.

Susan’s visit was capped off by a breakfast launch of UK Trade & Investment’s new network of trans-Atlantic businesswomen, which was graciously hosted by Ernst & Young. The next meeting of our network will cover opportunities in the Information & Communications Technologies (ICT) sector and Tech City, which Susan explored with a range of innovative US start-ups and venture capitalists during her visit. We’re greatly looking forward to developing this initiative and discussing a wide range of sectors over the coming months.

About Dominic Meiklejohn

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise…

I was born in Woking, outside London, in 1967 and attended Merton College, Oxford University, graduating in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

After university, I worked for HM Customs and Excise before joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1990. After working for the European Community Department, I learned Polish and began a posting at the British Embassy Warsaw, where I headed the British Know How Fund for Poland (1993-96). In 1997, I worked for the OSCE Mission in Albania, before heading up the India team in the South Asian Department of the FCO. In 2000, I was posted as First Secretary to the British Embassy Warsaw, with a particular focus on European Union issues in the run-up to Poland’s accession to the EU. In 2003, I returned to the UK as Deputy Head of the Environment Policy Department. From 2004-2005, I led the FCO’s Knowledge Management Programme. During this period, I led two deployments of the FCO’s Consular Rapid Deployment Team– to Sri Lanka, after the tsunami in 2004 and to Pakistan, after the earthquake in 2005. From 2006-2007, I served as Deputy Consul-General, Basra, Iraq. From June 2007 I worked with the FCO’s Change Unit.

I took up my current appointment on 22 January 2008. My wife Joanne and I are the proud parents of Olivia. Outside of the office, I cycle around Manhattan, play soccer (football) and, when parenting duties allow, enjoy the cultural riches offered by New York. I try hard to understand baseball.

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