New Minister and Director-General for UK Trade & Investment,China
Dr. Catherine Raines has been appointed as UKTI’s Director-General for Trade & Investment, based in Beijing.
Dr. Catherine Raines, New Minister and Director-General for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), China.
Sebastian Wood, British Ambassador to China announced the appointment of Dr. Catherine Raines, New Minister and Director-General for UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), China.
Sebastian Wood said:
I’m delighted to announce to UK business colleagues in China that Dr. Catherine Raines has been appointed as UKTI’s Director-General for Trade & Investment, based in Beijing.
Many of you will have met Catherine already, as she has been very hard at work since her arrival in China a fortnight ago. She is currently busy with an intensive programme of meetings with key stakeholders, colleagues and business people.
Catherine was previously Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Place at Staffordshire County Council, where she successfully undertook the transformation of an organisation of over 5000 people, in the process propelling the county to the top of the 2011-12 UK leaderboard for jobs created through inward investment. This included a £355 million inward investment in the UK from Tata, India, creating over 300 jobs for Jaguar Land Rover. During this period, Catherine also worked closely with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government.
Prior to this, Catherine has had Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 private sector experience spanning more than 20 years, including periods spent living and working in the UK, USA, Sweden and China. Her early experience was in international production and programme management; later moving into global, corporate leadership roles. Most recently, she held the role of Vice President Corporate Development (China) for AstraZeneca, based in Shanghai. In this role, she chaired the cross-functional group that oversaw the move of AstraZeneca’s global functions into China and led investment in local real estate in 2006 of over $200 million.
In the UK Catherine has held non-executive Board positions at HM Land Registry, the Whitehall and Industry Group and the Criminal Records Bureau and also sat on the national steering group for Association of Directors of Economy, Environment, Planning and Transport (ADEPT).
Catherine is delighted to be returning to China in such an important role for the UK. She wants to work hard, together with colleagues, to ensure that UK businesses are able to exploit Chinese opportunities to the full and that Chinese investment is welcomed in the UK.
For our part, both I and Nick Baird, UKTI Chief Executive, are delighted to have successfully recruited an individual with Catherine’s strong track record in business and we look forward to her taking the reins of UKTI in China.