Alan established Ireland’s first trade development office in China in 1979, when he was based in Beijing from 1979 to 1982 and led the opening up of the Chinese market to Irish exporters.  More recently he was Executive Director, Asia-Pacific, Enterprise Ireland (EI), based in Shanghai from 2008 to 2015. Alan is currently a non-executive board member and independent business adviser.  A native of Dublin, he is a Chemical Engineer and an M.B.A. graduate from University College Dublin and more recently he completed the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, in Paris and Singapore.