Management Team

Mark O’Connell

CEO

Mark O’Connell is CEO and founder of OCO. Mark has worked in more than 80 countries and has cultivated in depth government, industry and trade association networks across the world.

Core experience includes strategy and policy, business, sector and market analysis and evaluation, business planning, project management and performance review.

Mark is currently a Board Member of the International Economic Development Council.

Gareth Hagan

Deputy CEO

Gareth is OCO's Commercial Director, responsible for its international office network, partner delivery and its global Consulting business

Gareth has significant experience in leading engagements with both private and public sector clients. His expertise lies in the areas of strategy, international business development and large scale programme management

Gareth has a deep knowledge of Finance, as the Head of Strategy of a large Irish Bank, and direct experience of establishing international operations of a large UK based company. He also worked at the Boston Consulting Group supporting business growth and operations in a variety of markets.

Dr. Joachim Arnold

Chief Operating Officer

Dr. Joachim Arnold is OCO’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of OCO Germany, based in Frankfurt. Within the OCO Global Group, he also holds the responsibility for the Division “Lead Generation and Representation Services”. Joachim has 12 years' experience in the field of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and International Trade providing strategic advisory, research and business development services to economic development organisations as well as to private companies expanding to new market.

Joachim has supported some of the world’s leading investment promotion agencies including EDB Singapore, JETRO, Bahrain EDB, UK Department for International Trade, Greater Zurich Area and FrankfurtRheinMain. He is also extensively working with the US economic development organisations such as JobsOhio, Missouri DED, Business Oregon and many others. In addition to his experience in working in investment promotion he is providing trade development services mainly to corporate clients in evaluating foreign market opportunities, developing entry strategies and identifying partners and customers – both for German SMEs expanding abroad as well as for companies planning to access the German market.

Before joining OCO, Joachim worked as Consultant for PM&P in Berlin and Frankfurt, a consulting firm in Economic Development Consulting and Lead Generation. Previously he was a research associate at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, where he was lecturing on FDI related topics and conducted field studies on Regional Development and FDI in emerging Eastern European markets. He wrote his PhD thesis on the spatial evolution of foreign subsidiaries in Germany after graduating with a master degree in Economic Geography.

Joachim started his career at the German State Investment Promotion Agency Hessen Trade & Invest, with the aim of promoting inward investments from the US, Japan and Korea.

Joachim is a Native German speaker and is fluent in English.

Andrew Bradbury

Director - Finance

Andrew is the Finance Director at OCO Global and has overall responsibility for all aspects of the Finance, IT and HR functions for the OCO Group. Andrew is a chartered accountant who has over 20 years of post-qualified experience in senior roles involving audit, financial control and financial consultancy for a range of international businesses and public sector organisations.

As well as Andrew’s internal OCO roles, he has provided advice and support for a number of OCO’s clients in order to help them understand the finance and tax implications of their strategic initiatives, such as site location, organisation structure and overseas employment issues.

Andrew previously worked at PwC leading large-scale finance transformation projects for both the Private and Public Sector, across multiple sectors in UK & Ireland, Europe, Africa, the Americas and Asia. Before this, Andrew led the finance function of a listed construction and cement company in Kuwait and then for a utilities company and an engineering company in Northern Ireland. Andrew started his career as an auditor with BDO Stoy Hayward in London and then as an audit manager with EY in Kuwait, where his portfolio included multi-million turnover manufacturing and retail companies and the audit and worldwide consolidation of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

Shalini Raste

Director - Consulting

Shalini is the Consulting Director at OCO Global, and has overall responsibility for all the consulting and advisory services which OCO offers across its international office network, in both Trade and Investment. Shalini has nearly 15 years’ experience as a management consultant and programme manager in international economic development, with a particular focus on trade and investment.

Shalini has a proven track record in designing, setting up, running and performance managing international economic development operations. Her particular strengths lie in designing large scale programmes and in using data collected from delivering these programmes to generate insights that improve the delivery of targeted interventions. Shalini has regularly used her strong analytical skills, experience in strategy development and evaluation and excellent stakeholder management skills with senior management teams. She is recognised for her ability to deliver practical, sustainable solutions that clarify strategic direction and deliver public value.

Shalini has worked with Economic Development Agencies around the world. In the UK, Shalini has worked extensively with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department for International Development and Department for International Trade. She has also worked extensively overseas, including in Kenya and Uganda running an educational development NGO focused on improving the quality of secondary school education; in Costa Rica on developing a new FDI strategy for the country’s investment promotion agency; and in Lebanon with DFID on running a programme aimed at supporting job creation and safe return for Syrian refugees temporarily residing in Lebanon.

Some of the largest transformational projects she has worked on include setting up and running the UK’s first ever outsourced FDI operation by merging 8 organisations into a single investment promotion agency; designing and implementing the UK’s new export strategy by identifying High Value opportunities which UK consortia are well placed to pursue; and supporting the development and implementation of the National Security Strategy for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She holds a degree in Modern Languages (Spanish and French) from the University of Cambridge and a Masters in State, Society and Development from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Colin McCullagh

Director - UK & Ireland

Colin McCullagh is Director for UK & Ireland for OCO Global and leads the Trade services division ‘OCO Exporting’. Colin has a career spanning over 20 years in international trade working for corporations including IBM and LogicaCMG as well as for Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Governments export promotion agency.

He has supported companies to enter multiple international markets, with an emphasis on the US and Latin America, where he was the Director for Enterprise Ireland based in Sao Paulo and served as de facto Ambassador of Ireland to Brazil for a period. Colin has successfully served as Project Director on a number of key projects including JETRO European investment attraction, DIT US trade services and Tunisia to UK export support programme on behalf of the FCO.

Colin has a marketing degree from the University of Stirling, studied leadership at INSEAD and is fluent in Portuguese. His strengths are in strategic selling, international expansion, client management and project leadership.

Laurent Sansoucy

Director - Southern Europe

Laurent is our director for Southern Europe. He brings 27 years expertise in FDI Strategy and Policy Investment promotion.

Laurent joined OCO Global, the leading FDI specialist consulting firm, in 2006 to open and lead its operations in Paris, France.

Prior to joining OCO, Laurent worked in a variety of foreign investment, international strategy and sales & marketing positions spanning both consultancy (Arthur Andersen) and senior IPA (Investment Promotion Agency) & EDO (Economic Development Organisation) management.

Laurent has worked in Western Europe, North & South America, Middle East, East Asia and Africa, and has cultivated networks and knowledge of doing business in these areas.

Strategy work overseas has included investment support (greenfield, expansion and acquisition), corporate location, investment framework evaluation and location benchmarking, and organisational audit & training.
Laurent has worked with Business France, DIT/UKTI, ICE Italy, JETRO Invest Japan, Invest Hong Kong, Bahrain EDB, SAGIA Saudi Arabia, EFI Florida, DED Missouri, Invest in Canada, Investissement Quebec, Invest Chile, Uruguay XXI.

Joe Hepworth

Director - Middle East

Joe Hepworth is the Director for OCO Middle East and is also the founder of our UAE subsidiary, the British Centres for Business, which provides market-entry incubator services to overseas companies. Joe has been living in the Middle East for more than 10 years.

With responsibilities across all market sectors and multiple regional countries, Joe has overseen more than 300 trade & export support projects in the last 5 years; he is also responsible for delivering OCO’s investment attraction services in the region. Joe is the Director for Missouri Department of Economic Development in the Middle East and has managed the UK’s Department of International Trade regional delivery contract since 2013.

Joe’s previous career includes 10 years in the container shipping industry with P&O Nedlloyd & Maersk Line in senior commercial roles in China, Russia, India & Holland. He holds a First Class degree in International Relations from the University of Hull.

Alan Stevenson

Director, East Coast

Alan is a Queen's University Belfast graduate with international experience of working and living in a number of states across the USA. He is an experienced professional with an in-depth knowledge of the economic development and FDI market and community. He has worked on a number of successful campaigns/marketing strategies in North America, which have developed his unique understanding of the processes required to secure investment projects.

Alan has gained considerable experience through advising European, American, Canadian and South American EDOs on how to best develop and implement strategies to attract investment.

He also has established relationships and networks with executives, influencers and stakeholders of client companies throughout the USA and has been directly involved with several investments and re-investments from American companies into client regions

Naomi Byrne

Director - Managed Services

Naomi graduated from Queens University in Belfast with a BA degree in French; more recently in 2012 she completed an Advanced Diploma in Management Practice at the University of Ulster. Naomi is responsible for the team and project coordination of the company's Business Intelligence division. The division offers support to Consulting and Outsourced Solutions contracts specialising in the field of Foreign Direct Investment. Naomi specialises in FDI analysis of geographies, sectors and companies. She produces a number of reports, each client specific, focusing on their specific criteria and identifying their regional strengths.

Ciara Rafferty

Director - Mintel Ireland

Ciara is Director for our sister company Mintel Ireland. Ciara studied Modern Languages (French & Spanish) at Trinity College Dublin and has a post grad diploma in Marketing. Ciara also spent a year at Universidad de Leon in Spain where she studied linguistics and taught English.

Ciara has over 16 years’ experience of Account Management. Before joining OCO Global/Mintel, Ciara worked in several client-facing roles for multinational companies including Citibank, Dun & Bradstreet and Seagate. In these roles Ciara was responsible for managing corporate accounts across the following key markets: UK, Ireland, Benelux and South America.

Ciara joined OCO Global Ltd in 2006 as a Mintel Account Manager. She now heads up the team.

In her current role Ciara is responsible for managing a portfolio of 40 Irish clients. She works across the following key sectors; Food, Drink, Leisure, Finance, Academia and Government bodies. She supports companies with both Syndicated and Custom reports (dependent on their research needs!). Ciara helps organisations to diversify their product offering and explore/understand new markets. Her key clients include Bord Bia, Invest NI and Glanbia.

Ciara is responsible for driving revenue for the Mintel business and overseeing all sales and marketing-related activity.