Paul
Walters
Paul has worked in the field of International Trade since leaving Grammar School. His career began in logistics at Manchester Airport in the U.K. where he trained in all key areas of export and import forwarding by air, road and sea.
On from logistics he worked with manufacturers in electronics, engineering and nursery products in positions within export and supply chain through to being general manager of a major U.K. company.
Paul has spent much of his time in the industry travelling, having visited and consulted in over 50 countries in North America, Europe, the Middle and Far East. Paul has over forty years’ experience in international trade covering logistics, supply chain and manufacturing. He has a very flexible approach to working with clients and his communication skills, coupled with his international market knowledge which covers protocols and practices, have benefitted numerous companies as they expanded into other country markets.
Since 2014 Paul has his own International Trade advisory service in the U.K. Working with SME’s (Small to Medium sized Enterprises) to help them enter and grow their business in international markets. He is a Member of The Institute of Export and also an Export Champion for the U.K.’s Department of International Trade (DTI) and a lead for the U.K.’s Federation of Small Business on International Trade.
Michelle
Cunningham
Michelle has been working in the baby and juvenile industry for the last 16 years increasing her knowledge in all sectors of the product life cycle. With a start in the retail sector, she gained valuable skills in high-levels sales negotiations, identifying consumer preferences, understanding commercial business practices in her native Canada that in turn developed an awareness and a passion for innovative products in the juvenile category. Having an eye for identifying products fit for the market, she moved into distribution, managing the importation of numerous products, gaining experience and knowledge of importation processes and establishing a broad sales network. This led to becoming an Account Manager in North America in the baby furniture category where she became skillful in negotiating with Specialty and Big Box retailers.
In 2013, Michelle made the decision to become an independent consultant in the Juvenile Products Industry and over the past several years, has attended numerous national and international trade shows allowing her to build a network of contacts in manufacturing and sales around the world.
Michelle’s experience and skills have led her to focus on Start Up companies of innovative products with a desire to expand outside their domestic market, working with them to establish a solid plan to achieve that success. She maintains a close relationship with her clients and a high level of professionalism representative of the brands and companies as she builds their global sales channel network.