Nick McInnes

Biography

Nick McInnes was British Consul General in Sydney and Director-General UK Trade & Investment for Australia and New Zealand from January 2013 to January 2017. In this role, he acted as the British Government representative in New South Wales and provided leadership and direction to UK Trade & Investment’s network of offices in Australia and New Zealand supporting British companies doing business in these markets and Australian and New Zealand companies looking to invest in the UK.

Nick has significant commercial experience in both the private and public sectors. Before moving to Sydney, he headed up UKTI’s operations in the USA as the Director Trade & Investment USA and Deputy British Consul General in New York. During this time, Nick worked closely with many leading UK and US companies - including HSBC, GE, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Diageo and Pfizer.

Nick previously headed up UKTI’s operations in South Africa and China and - immediately prior to his New York posting - was UKTI Director in London responsible for trade with Africa, the Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Central Asia and Latin America. He also has earlier experience as Trade Director for Africa and South Asia and a previous posting in New York. His most recent private sector experience was in South Africa where he worked for BAE systems, Costain and a strategic management consultancy firm, Africa International Advisors.

Earlier, Nick was Private Secretary to successive UK Secretaries of State for Trade.

Nick was educated at Rutlish School and the University of York. He also graduated from the Management Advancement Programme at Wits Business School in Johannesburg.

Previous roles in government

  • British Consul General and Deputy Trade Commissioner Asia Pacific (Australia & New Zealand)