In January 2011, Sir Andrew Cahn stepped down after five years in charge of UK Trade & Investment, the government department that promotes exports and attracts foreign direct investment. Prime Minister, David Cameron, said: "Andrew has been a wonderful chief executive of UK Trade & Investment and a fantastic ambassador for the UK. He has been central to the Government’s efforts to make Britain an attractive place to invest and to sell Britain to the world." After stepping down, Cahn took on a number of non-executive directorships, including Nomura Group, Lloyd's of London and Huawei and pro-bono roles including WWF and the Institute for Government. Career summary:
2015–Present Non-executive director, Huawei Technologies and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committees
1973 – 1977 Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Personal life/family
Cahn is the son of one of the founders of Materials Science, Robert W. Cahn FRS. He was educated at Bedales School and then Trinity College, Cambridge. He is married to Virginia Beardshaw, who was Chief Executive of I Can, the children's communications charity; they have one daughter, and two sons.
Affiliations
Cahn is chair of WWF, a member of the global Board of WWF and Chair of the Audit Committee. He is also a trustee of the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and a governor and member of the Executive Committee of the Institute for Government. He was previously a trustee of the Arvon Foundation, a member of the Government's Financial Services Trade and Investment Board, Board member of CityUK, Chair of the City of London's International Trade and Investment Group, a member of the Advisory Council of the Rector of the University of the Arts, an Association Member of BUPA and a member of the Governing Board of Business for New Europe. He has also served as trustee of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, where he was Chairman of their Audit Committee, and of Japan Society. He was formerly a non-executive director at Cadbury Ltd and a Governor of Bedales School.
Cahn encountered controversy in January 2011, when an internal email he had sent saying the FCO wished to find ways to spend up to its 2010/11 budget ceiling, was leaked to the Daily Mail. In the email, Cahn said: “The FCO is heading for an underspend and wants to get money out of the door.” In the event, UK Trade and Investment, the government department he led, spent no extra money. As was later explained, "The Foreign Office turned out not to be spending some money in another area. We were told there was an amount of money and asked if we could spend it productively."
