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Danny Lopez

British Consul-General, New York

Part of UK in USA [New York]

5th February 2013 New York, USA

And the “Crunchie” goes to…

UKTI team

Last Thursday evening, I joined the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) team in San Francisco and the “who’s who” of the technology and start up communities at the “Crunchies,” the veritable Oscars for tech companies.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting at an awards ceremony with 2,000 tech-gurus, but what I witnessed was an industry that celebrated innovation and success with pride.

The tech industry is a confident community that wants to push its members to greater heights and, as many put it during the ceremony, to change the world for the better. I presented the award for the “Fastest-Rising Start-up, and the winner was Snapchat, an app that allows users to share photos that self-destruct in 10 seconds or fewer.

The crowd included one hundred finalists, 20 winners, and more importantly from our perspective, hundreds of existing investors in the UK and hundreds of potential ones. It was a privilege to be sitting a couple of rows behind Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who went on to win CEO of the year that night.

I also had the opportunity to meet Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and thank her personally for her company’s investment in the UK. (She was very complimentary of our offering.)

We at UKTI co-sponsored the evening and had our own Brit-themed networking area, complete with a Union Jack couch. The ceremony finished at 9:30 p.m., but it was great to see the team networking at their best for a long time afterwards. By midnight, the team was still collecting business cards and talking to companies about our exciting propositions in Tech City and across the UK.

The morning afterwards, San Francisco Consul-General Priya Guha hosted a breakfast with 11 tech companies. Seven were already in London, and four were seriously considering making a move there. Naturally, they gave us some useful homework to take away to make the experience easier for them, but they also highlighted what they liked about setting up shop in the UK: a thriving ecosystem, an exciting market, exceptional talent and a culture that is becoming more and more risk-taking.

Above is a photo of the UKTI team after a long hard day of networking. You can try and Snapchat and count to ten, but this team photo will still be there – UKTI’s US team is here to stay!

About Danny Lopez

Danny was appointed British Consul-General, New York in July 2011 and has responsibility for promoting the UK’s economic profile, foreign policy and national security priorities in New York, New Jersey,…

Danny was appointed British Consul-General, New York in July 2011 and has responsibility for promoting the UK’s economic profile, foreign policy and national security priorities in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut’s Fairfield County. He is on the Board of UK Trade & Investment, the foreign commercial arm of the UK Government, and leads its operations across the USA. Prior to joining the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Consul-General Lopez enjoyed a varied career in the UK’s public and private sectors. From 2009 to 2011, he worked for the London Development Agency, the Mayor of London’s economic development arm, as Group Director for Business Support and Promotion. During this time, he was responsible for creating London & Partners, the UK capital’s promotional agency for business, visitors and students and was its inaugural CEO. From 2006 to 2009, he was Managing Director, Marketing & Communications at UK Trade & Investment, where he was responsible for delivering a new marketing strategy to promote and showcase the UK economy internationally. Previously, he worked at Barclays Bank for ten years, where he held a number of senior international positions, including Director of Business Banking USA in New York, Head of Inward Investment in London and Business Development Director in India. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economics and a Masters in International Economics and Finance from the University of Essex. He is recently engaged to his Australian fiancee Susan and is a big fan of running, tennis, football (soccer) and Formula 1.

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