Meet the Executive Committee Members

Wouter Schuitemaker leads Business Birmingham the inward investment programme run by Marketing Birmingham. Prior to joining Marketing Birmingham, Wouter headed Asia Pacific operations at Think London, the official foreign direct investment agency for the capital. Wouter was responsible for managing overseas offices in India and China as well as a delivery team in London and representatives in Australia, Japan and Korea. The Asia Pacific region constitutes 45% of all FDI into London, a total of approximately 100 investment projects in 2010, which in itself represents 20% of all FDI into the UK managed by his team. Prior to joining Think London, Wouter spent 10 years in the media communications and marketing industry in Japan working for Japan’s largest Market Research company INTAGE where Wouter was International Account Director for; P&G, Tesco, Gillette and Unilever. He also worked at leading brand consultancies Enterprise IG (WPP Group) and Interbrand (Omnicom Group) as a Corporate Identity Consultant working with clients including; Four Seasons Hotels, Hitachi, Nissan, Pentax, Sharp and Sony amongst others.

Geoff Cousins is Managing Director, Jaguar UK, he was appointed into the position in February 2006. Geoff moved into this position following a seven-year assignment in the USA with Jaguar where he undertook a number of senior roles, including CFO Jaguar & Land Rover North America and more recently Vice President in charge of Sales Planning, Logistics and Remarketing.

Geoff has been in Jaguar for twenty years in a number of Manufacturing, Finance and Sales and Marketing roles. He has extensive experience of working in Europe and the overseas territories, in particular the Far East and of course with the UK market.

Geoff is responsible for all Sales and Marketing activities in the UK; including the sales and franchise operations, all aspects of marketing and customer service.

He reports directly to Mike O'Driscoll, the Worldwide Managing Director.

Geoff was born in Newport, South Wales, and was educated at Warwick University where he achieved a BA Degree in Economics and International Studies. He subsequently went back to Warwick to complete his MBA, he is also qualified with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Geoff is married and enjoys all sports, but particularly rugby (he is Welsh), travelling and music.

The Colliers CRE Group provides a broad range of real estate consultancy services including agency, valuation, property management and building consultancy to both UK and international clients. The Birmingham office is the largest of Colliers’ regional offices with over 70 people and 15 services lines.

David’s specialism is property investment and over the last 20 years he has been involved with a broad range of institutional, property company and corporate clients, advising on sales and acquisitions of commercial property across all sectors throughout the UK.

David took over the running of the Birmingham office in May 2007 and it has grown steadily during this period despite the challenging economic conditions. He has recruited a Corporate Recovery Team which is now six strong and has been heavily involved with the expansion of the Rating function who act for a range of major plcs and FTSE 100 Companies. He has also overseen their recent office move to Brindley Place.

David also sits on the Midland’s Board of the NSPCC’s Child’s Voice Appeal.

Rob has extensive experience of listed and other large international businesses in Europe and North America across the Construction, Automotive and Transport, Leisure and Tourism sectors and has worked on a number of IPO’s. Rob also leads a large number of PFI audits.

Rob joined the BABC Midlands in February 2012.

Joe joined the Airport Company in 1998 as the Finance Director and he is now the Deputy CEO. The delivery of the Runway Extension and expansion of the commercial portfolio are the current priority projects, which Joe is leading and he is also the Company Secretary. Joe is also a member of the Board of Governors at Birmingham City University and sits on the Executive Committee of the British American Business Council.
Joe qualified as an accountant with Kidsons in Birmingham then spent two years with Ernst & Young in the Middle East. This was followed by roles in banking, transport and manufacturing industries.
Joe holds an MBA from Aston University and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Chartered Institute of Credit Management, and the Institute for the Management of Information Systems.