Lincolnshire EU Exit Panel – Threats and Opportunities

Simon Beardsley

Simon Beardsley has been at the helm of the Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce for over 15 years now and has extensive experience in promoting the interests of member businesses, connecting and contributing in partnerships towards a prosperous regional economy making a difference to its members, locally, nationally and internationally.

His current position directly involves him supporting a number of key local business support organisations (including the Growth Hub, Greater Lincolnshire LEP, University of Lincoln, Bishops Grosseteste University) as well as organisations with a social and cooperative ethos.

Simon is also a director of the East Midlands International Trade Association, Lincoln Business Improvement District and East Lincolnshire Business Destination Business Improvement District.

Mark Taylor

Mike Stokes

Mike Stokes spent nearly 20 years as an exporter in the fiercely-competitive electrical appliances industry, eventually achieving the position of Export Director. Though a specialist in Export sales and marketing, Mike at various stages of his career also took responsibility for the administration, shipping, credit control and after-sales service aspects of Export. Mike is widely-travelled and he has done business with a variety of customers across the cultural spectrum.

In 2003, Mike set up Exportential to provide consultancy, advisory and training support for new and potential British exporters. He has since worked with over 400 SMEs in a variety of business sectors. Mike’s assistance consists of no-nonsense, practical advice which is based upon real experience across a variety of markets. He works very closely with the Department for International Trade and with Business Lincolnshire.

Martin Collison, BSc (Hons), FRSA, FCIEA, FRAgS, MIAgrM

For the last 33 years Martin has combined a career as an academic with farming, importing and consultancy and has, since 2002, run his own specialist economic development consultancy, Collison and Associates Limited. He is a director of a plant genetics company which markets fruit varieties globally, was a director of an import business for 10 years and partner in a farming and horticultural business for 14 years.

He works from the local and regional level to the EU and beyond, now broadly spending a third of his time with industry clients, a third with government and a third with Universities and research centres.

Martin has supported Greater Lincolnshire LEP as agrifood advisor since 2014 and lectures at the University of Lincoln on food market trends and policy.

He helped government develop the UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies (2013) and the last Rural White Paper (2001) and has worked for the EU to review EIP Agri (2016) and the EU Agricultural Promotion scheme (2019).