Speaker profile
Alastair Gardner
Alastair trained as a chemist and worked in various R&D and product development roles with DuPont, specializing in the formulation and application of light sensitive thin film coatings for lithographic printing plates, before exporting his skills to China, where he commissioned and ran the production and QC functions for a Chinese printing plate manufacturing company.
He has worked in international trade promotion for nearly 20 years, initially with China-Britain Business Council, then with the Department for Business & Trade, when the Department was known as UK Trade & Investment. Working as an international trade adviser in the Yorkshire & Humber region, he led on the chemicals and related sectors in the region and maintained close links with the sector team in London, and colleagues overseas while working with companies to help maintain and grow exports.
In his current role as DBT Trade Specialist for the Chemicals sector, Alastair promotes and supports the UK’s world class chemicals industry on a global stage, working closely with stakeholders across government and business to ensure that no business in the UK supply chain seeking to grow their international business has the support and resources that they need to do so.