Suzanne Hill

Patton is an innovative construction, fit-out and specialist joinery contractor working across a number of sectors including retail, commercial, hotel and leisure, heritage & museums, industrial, education, health and residential. The company has offices in Milton Keynes, Ballymena, Dusseldorf and Dublin and has carried out projects throughout the UK, Ireland and continental Europe. Our clients include some of the world's leading brands, companies and organisations.

Appointed by the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, my role as Honorary Consul for Slovenia in Northern Ireland is to promote trade, tourism and culture between Slovenia and Northern Ireland; to represent Slovenia in an official capacity and to be a point of contact for any Slovenian citizens living or working in or visiting Northern Ireland.

Handel Export is a team of international sales, marketing and business development specialists, all with extensive on-the-ground international experience, working with companies to assist them to accelerate their global business development. The assistance we provide is via several different avenues: - Interim placements to drive international business development, sales and marketing. - Consultancy to include the following acitivies: •Formulating a corporate export sales and marketing strategy •

Responsible for export sales to North, Central and South America for a global manufacturer of polycarcbonate and PVC roofing products used in the construction industry. Built a network of over 50 distributors and agents and took sales from a neglible level to 16% of the company's total export sales. 75% of my time was spent working on-the-ground with local partners to increase business and negotiate major contracts.

Appointed and managed a network of distributors & OEM customers in Central and Eastern Europe, Belgium, Luxembourg and South Africa. 75% of my time was spent in-market working with our local partners to increase business. Key achievements included: - increased sales in 1997 by 47%, a year when overall company growth was 8%. - won several large strategic accounts to supply Ministries of Health and National Laboratory Quality Assessment Schemes. - instigated the introduction of an adaptation to original

Based in Madrid, I set up a branch office for the company which included the process of company and product registration. This was a new sales territory for the company. During my time in Madrid I organised a high profile conference on antioxidant research for 100 of Madrid's leading biochemists and cardiologists, which resulted in significantly increased sales and raising of the company profile.