Sean Croson
Vice President Business Development

Mr. Croson is Vice President of Business Development based in Los Angeles responsible for the West Coast USA region. His role is to facilitate US companies' direct investment into the UK market. In this role, Mr. Croson assists Fortune 500, 100, SMEs US companies in the Life Science, IT, and Renewable Energy industries with European go-to-market strategy, clinical trial studies, mergers & acquisitions, university technology transfer, joint ventures, global partnerships, and quantitative / qualitative analysis on property site selection

Prior to joining the NEIIA, Mr. Croson served as Senior Sales Consultant for Siebel Systems, a CRM software solution provider. In this capacity, he led the development and direct sales of service, marketing, and sales software in Orange, LA, and San Diego counties. Before his Senior Sales Consultant position at Siebel, Mr. Croson spent four years with ACS (Affiliated Computer Services) where he focused on North American business growth and developing large business process outsourcing and systems integration accounts for ACS.

Mr. Croson is a graduate of University of Idaho, with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management Information Systems.

Rabia Razaq
Business Development Associate

Rabia Razaq is a Business Development Executive (BDE) with the North of England's West Coast and Bay Area teams and is based in Newport Beach, California. Her primary role is to foster lead generation efforts for the territories, and she also meets with clients to discuss how the North of England can ease their entry into the UK. Rabia covers all sectors, but she has particular interest in cleantech and renewable energies, digital and creative media, and aerospace.

Prior to joining the North of England in 2007, Rabia worked at the British Consulate in San Francisco as a research associate with the Science and Innovation team on their climate change program. She also worked for an internet start-up company and a major clothing company in the Bay Area. Rabia also has extensive experience with the National Model United Nations, an international intercollegiate UN simulation conference, where she held a number of positions and rose through the ranks to finish her time with NMUN as Under Secretary General of Intergovernmental Organizations.

Rabia obtained her B.A. in Political Science with minors in Economics and Business Law from the California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She also completed graduate coursework in International and Development Economics at the University of San Francisco.

Barbara E Cox
Business Development Associate

Barbara Cox, Business Development Executive, has many years of Inward Investment experience having previously worked for most of her career at the British Consulate General, (UKTI) Los Angeles - in the Inward Investment Section - covering the whole of the UK, where she assisted US companies seeking to expand their business opportunities and establish operations in the UK. She has worked for the West Coast office of the North of England Inward Investment Agency since March 2002 where she identifies and contacts US companies who may wish to expand their business opportunities and establish a base in North-East England or North-West England.