Graham Dallas
Head of the Americas – London Stock Exchange

Graham Dallas is a senior manager at the London Stock Exchange, where he heads a team responsible for the Exchange’s Business Development activities across the Americas. He plays an integral role in building and maintaining the Exchange’s profile and presence in the corporate and advisory communities of London and the financial centres of Europe, North and South America, focusing on attracting international companies to the London markets.
His team has won listings of companies from Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Mexico, as well as the USA and Canada.
Graham has worked in the capital markets of London, Paris, New York, and Hong Kong, and joined the London Stock Exchange in 2002.

Richard Dixon
Chief Editor – The Times
Dr Richard Dixon is chief revise editor of The Times, responsible for the overall writing style of the paper and the Style Guide. He has been on the staff of The Times for 21 years. Richard spent a decade editing and presenting foreign news and five years as an editorial IT trainer and developer before beginning his current role. He also worked for The Sun and the News of the World.

Paul Eadie MBE
Latin America Trade Adviser – UKTI

Paul was educated at Oundle School then studied abroad at Geneva, Grenoble, Madrid and Perugia Universities before joining the Family Engineering business in Paisley, Scotland in 1964. As Sales Director and eventually Chairman and Chief Executive he helped transform the Company into a PLC before the Textile machinery division was sold off to the Japanese in 1987. Paul was engaged in January 2005 by Merseyside ITC to be the Latin America Trade Adviser for the North West of England and also  by UKTI . Paul has led 4 Trade Missions to Argentina and will take a Mission of North West Companies to Argentina in December this year.

Zeev Godik
 CEO – Gaucho

Zeev Godik opened the first Gaucho restaurant in 1976 as a sideline whilst studying at film school in Amsterdam.

He always had a passion for South America because he had family there, spoke Spanish and knew the region well. Coupled, of course, with a huge love for beef. Argentina and beef are synonymous; whenever he visited he was left with a lasting impression – on the way Argentineans raised their cattle, the grazing and the vastness of the country’s open spaces on which the cattle lived. Having opened twenty such restaurants in Holland, he then decided to turn his attention to London and in 1990 bought the Swallow Street restaurant “ Down Mexico Way” from the receivers. Four years later the first Gaucho Grill (now Gaucho Piccadilly) was born. Today there are therteen, with twelve in London and one in Manchester, one more is planned to open later this year. To mention the new joined adventure, Freggo, a little of the Buenos Aires ice cream delicacy at the popular West End location, next to Gaucho Piccadilly.

Gustavo Idígoras
Ministry Agricultural Counsellor – Argentine Mission to the European Commission at Brussels

Since 2004, Mr. Gustavo Idígoras is Ministry Agricultural Counsellor of Argentine Mission to the European Commission at Brussels, Belgium. He is responsible for food safety and agricultural negotiations to EC and 27 Member States and food promotion activities. He is also in charge of all negotiations with the EC and Parliament related to the Directive of use of renewable energies. He works also as argentine delegate to the OECD Agricultural Committee.

Before being posted at Brussels, he was for four year Director of National Department for Agrifood Market of Secretary of State of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food.  Previously, he was Director of International Affairs Department of National Service of Health and Agrifood Quality (SENASA).

Alberto M. Lasheras-Shine
Partner – Estudio Beccar Varela

Alberto M. Lasheras-Shine is a partner with the Buenos Aires law firm Estudio Beccar Varela, firm that he joined as a law-student in 1970. He practices international commercial law, including cross-border transactions, foreign investment, business, trade, entertainment and corporate matters, with an accent on the automotive industry. Mr. Lasheras-Shine graduated in 1975 as a lawyer (Abogado) in the Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is also the Chairman-Elect of World Services Group, and is a Senior Vice-Chair of the Corporate and M&A Committee of the International Bar Association. He is the author of several publications regarding Argentine legal issues, especially in the fields of corporate and business matters.

Sir Humphrey Maud KCMG

Sir Humphrey Maud KCMG spent 34 years as a British diplomat 
and re-opened diplomatic relations with Argentina after the conflict in 1982.
He then served as Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General for more than five years, running the Commonwealth's economic and social programmes. Since 1999 he has chaired the Pall Mall Initiatives and Commonwealth Disaster Management Agency Ltd, CDMA, specialising in natural disaster and energy supply insurance.

Sir Humphrey's diplomatic postings took him to Madrid twice, Havana , and Paris , followed by service as Assistant Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He was Ambassador to Luxembourg and High Commissioner to Cyprus before being appointed Ambassador to Argentina . He worked as adviser to the EU Commissioner for Development for the re-negotiation of the Lomé Convention in 2000.

Diego Meller
Co-founder – Livra.com

Diego was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In December 1999, at the age of 20 and while studying at Universidad de San Andrés, he co-founded Livra.com, a leading online market research agency in Latin America.  In 2002, Diego relocated to London and setup Livra’s international sales office. At this time he also co-founded DeveGo, an offshore web development agency. In 2008, after 9 years of continuous growth Livra was acquired by The Ipsos Group, the second largest market research organisation worldwide. In early 2009, Diego co-founded Atommica, a web development lab specialized in videogames. He is also an angel investor in Erepublik.com and Show Translations.

Ricardo Moral
VP Engineering for Europe - Globant

Ricardo Moral is Globant´s VP of Engineering for Europe. He has more than ten years of experience in software development. Born in Argentina, Ricardo joined Globant in 2004 and relocated to London to work as Software Architect at Lastminute.com. In 2006, Ricardo managed Google’s first offshore development project, designing and implementing a process based on lean and agile methodologies. Between 2008 and 2009, he managed the engagement between Globant and Electronic Arts, building a successful operation of 140 engineers.

Before joining Globant, Ricardo worked as software development architect and technical leader at IBM, Sony, Ford Motor Company and BBVA.

Pedro Castro Nevares
Partner – Estudio Beccar Varela

Pedro Castro Nevares is a Partner with Estudio Beccar Varela in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he specializes in banking and finance law, securities law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring and general corporate law, with an accent on the agribusiness sector. He has acted as legal counsel for the branch of Citibank, N.A. established in the Republic of Argentina, and have been a member of the international associates program at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York (2004). He volunteered in The Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice Initiatives. Mr. Castro Nevares graduated from the Law School of the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 1997, and received his LL.M. degree from Duke University’s School of Law in 2002.

Fernando Sedano
Manager of Operations and Investor Services - Argentina’s National Investment Promotion Agency, ProsperAr

Dr. Fernando Sedano is Manager of Operations and Investor Services at Argentina’s National Investment Promotion Agency, ProsperAr. The mission of this Agency is to attract foreign direct investment and to promote domestic investment growth. 
Prior to joining ProsperAr, Dr. Sedano was Economist and Council Director at the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI from February 2006 to September 2007, where he was in charge of all economic research focusing on Latin America and where he managed the Supply Chain Logistics Council. At the Alliance, Dr. Sedano wrote extensively on macroeconomic and structural issues affecting Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

Sir Michael Rake
Chairman – BT Group plc

Sir Michael Rake is Chairman of BT Group plc. He is Chairman of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, as well as a director of Barclays PLC, easyJet plc, McGraw Hill Inc and the Financial Reporting Council.  He is also chairman of the private equity oversight group the Guidelines Monitoring Committee.  He is a member of the National Security Forum.
From May 2002 to September 2007 Sir Michael Rake was Chairman of KPMG International. He is also a Vice President of the RNIB, a member of the Board of the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue, a member of the CBI International Advisory Board, the DTI’s US/UK Regulatory Taskforce, Senior Adviser for Chatham House and the Global Advisory Board of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation.  Mike was Chairman of Business in the Community from 2004-2007 and a member of the board of the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum from 1998 to 2007.

David Royce
Partner – Ernst & Young

David is a Partner in Ernst & Young’s Global Mining & Metals Transaction Advisory Services team and has been involved in transactions in the UK, CIS (Russia and Kazakhstan), South America, Africa, and Central Europe working on acquisition due diligence assignments, fundraisings, preparing companies for flotation and divestments. 
After graduating from Manchester University (BA Hons in Economics and Accounting) in 1982, David joined the firm, qualified as an English Chartered Accountant in 1985 and became partner in 1996. Prior to David’s current role in Transaction Advisory Services, David acted as lead Audit Partner to a number of FTSE 350 companies and US business in the mining, manufacturing and construction sectors.

Chris Prior-Willeard
Managing Director – Bank of New York Mellon

Currently involved in strategy and innovation within the Bank of New York Mellon’s Depositary Receipt Division.

After leaving the Navy, Chris worked in commodity derivatives and then at the London Stock Exchange where he was involved in launching SEAQ International London’s international equity market. He then spent several years in banking with The Bank of New York, Chase Manhattan Bank and HSBC.

Joining PwC he worked in the Risk Management and Corporate Finance practices as a Management Consultant, where he advised stock exchanges, clearing houses and banks.

Chris studied and lectured at Nottingham University and Smithfield College. He has authored books and articles on financial markets.

Organizers Contact:
Javier Alvarez
Executive Director – British Argentine Chamber of Commerce

Javier is member of the Board and Executive Director of the British Argentine Chamber of Commerce since April 2007. He holds an agricultural engineer degree from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (Argentina) and a MA on Environmental Politics and Globalization from the King’s College London. He previously played a role in sustainable development projects by co-founding Fundacion Habitat & Desarrollo in 1992 and later working for the Living Earth Foundation. Javier is Director at The Food Water & Energy Co. and was also Chairman of the Environmental Commission of the Argentine Chamber of Commerce (CAC) in Buenos Aires.