12.15 PM - 12.35 PM

PKF Francis Clark - Discussing the latest updates on tax and VAT with knock on effects to coastal businesses

Speaker: Joe Francis & Jim Suswain

12.45 PM - 13.30 PM

Lunch
Includes a buffet lunch and juices

1.30 PM - 1.50 PM

Carbon Trust - Overview of Net Zero goals and how SMEs can work to comply with the requirements 
Speaker: Lawrence Campbell & Sam Strivens

1.55 PM - 2.15 PM

MCA – Latest Rules, Coding and Regulatory Issues
Speaker: Virginia McVea

2.20 PM - 2.40 PM

Refreshments Break

Includes herbal & fruit tea selection

2.45 PM - 3:05 PM

LA Marine - Update and information on prevalent legal subjects surrounding coastal activities

Speaker: Philippa Langton & Brodie Ross

3.10 PM - 3.30 PM

National Coastal Tourism Academy – Value of Coastal Tourism, Trend Analysis and Projections Review 

Speaker: Samantha Richardson

3.35 PM - 3.55 PM

Disaster Management - How preparation in SMEs can mitigate business crisis

Speaker: Paul Dutton

4.00 PM - 4.05 PM

Closing Remarks 

Speaker: British Marine's President Elect, Lyndsay McClay

4.05 PM - 5.10 PM

A complimentary drink will be provided to kick off the networking reception

5.15 PM - 6.45 PM

Unwind and refresh in preparation for our members exclusive dinner

7.00 PM - 10.00 PM

Sit for Dinner (Open exclusively to British Marine Members)

The dinner will feature a Spanish tapas selection and will be held at La Regata, located at Town Quay, Southampton SO14 2AR

FSB Development Manager, Nicky Kildunne represents and supports over 9,000 small business owners and sole traders across Hampshire, Dorset, and the Isle of Wight.

Nicky's experience of supporting hundreds of small businesses spans starting up, growing and scaling businesses, as well as surviving economic shocks like Brexit and the COVID pandemic. Through her work for FSB, Nicky has helped hundreds of businesses to navigate the day-to-day challenges of setting up and running a small business.

Paul Dutton has 35 years of leadership experience within the Royal Marines and UK Police service. After seven years as a Royal Marine, he joined West Midlands Police in 1996, specialising in counter terrorism, disaster management, Disaster Victim Identification, public order, and firearms policing. Paul has spent 15 years as a bronze, silver, and gold incident commander, leading preparedness and emergency responses at major events.

Internationally, Paul has worked for the UN, NATO, and the UK government on disaster response training and operations. Highlights include deploying in response to Hurricane Irma which devastated the British Virgin Islands and supporting the evacuation of Kabul, Afghanistan in 2021.

Paul concluded his policing career in 2023 as Director of Multi-Agency Gold Incident Command Training for the National College of Policing. Paul is the founder of GSB Command Training, delivering bespoke preparedness & response incident command training for public and private sectors in the UK and abroad.

Lawrence is the Sector Lead for Transport and Logistics at the Carbon Trust. In his role, he works with businesses of all sizes and geographies, helping corporations achieve their net-zero goals and assisting startups in developing sustainable business models to create competitive advantage. He collaborates with the Corporate Decarbonization, Innovation, and Acceleration teams to advance the mission of reaching net zero. Lawrence's Maritime background began with his early career as a project engineer in submarine design and has continued this interest within the Blue Economy ever since.

Sam leads Floating Offshore Wind and Maritime activities within Carbon Trust’s Policy and Innovation department. This includes overseeing a portfolio of activities such as the Floating Wind JIP programme and representing Carbon Trust on a number of international and technical advisory boards, such as the Sustainable Marine Alliance. Sam comes from a maritime operations background with over ten years experience as a Master of crew transfer vessels, vessel manager for offshore windfarms around the UK and various other seagoing roles internationally.  Sam has an MSc in Marine Renewable Energy from the University of Plymouth where his research focus was on the installation phase of floating offshore wind turbine platforms. Sam also holds a BSc. (Hons) in Exploration and Resource Geology from the University of Cardiff, Wales and MCA Master 200 certification.

Joe joined PKF Francis Clark on 3^rd April 2023 with over 20 years’ indirect tax experience gained in mid-tier firms working with a broad range of private and public sector clients with national and global activities. 

He leads the specialist indirect tax marine team at Francis Clark in advising on VAT structuring for vessel acquisitions, managing cross border transactions, and ensuring compliance with local tax obligations within and outside of the UK.  At all times, Joe takes time to clearly understand his clients’ challenges before advising on pragmatic, client focused solutions.

Away from the world of VAT, Joe enjoys cycling, travelling, and spending time with his family.

Jim is a VAT Manager at PKF Francis Clark, where he serves as an expert indirect tax adviser and ACA trainee accountant. Jim has a comprehensive background encompassing taxation (specifically VAT), accountancy, and a diverse range of skills in SEO, business planning, e-commerce, advertising, sales, and marketing.

Huw is responsible for the NOC’s business development strategy through NOC Innovations Ltd, the trading subsidiary of the NOC providing marine science and technology, data information products and facilities, the profits of which are used to support the NOC’s charitable purposes of advancing ocean science and education. Huw’s career has seen him work for large engineering organisations in a variety of commercial roles including global aero engine maker Rolls-Royce Plc; French owned global technology company Safran and materials engineering company Praxair Surface Technologies where he was responsible for the commercial and business strategy for the UK business across all markets including aerospace, oil and gas, industrial gas turbines and general industry. Innovation is at the heart of what we do at NOC and this is critical to further our understanding of the ocean. It is my role to develop NOC's commercial engagement and offerings using our technology, science and broader capabilities to develop strong revenue streams. In short, I use our innovation to fund our innovation. I have worked in commercial roles since I started my career; Procurement, Commercial Technology Development, Corporate Strategy and Business Development. My passion lies in strategy and business development and I have been fortunate enough to have worked on some exciting large scale projects in this area. Over the years I have led major overseas strategic investment deals, negotiated a number of large contracts in excess of £500m and have built business development strategies to grow businesses across multiple markets. My technical background is in aero engines and materials.

Philippa has been a Partner at LA Marine since 2021 and heads up the Southampton-based team. She has extensive experience within the commercial and leisure marine sectors and her clients range from high-profile international shipping companies to local marine businesses and boat owners.

Her broad-ranging expertise in both contentious and non-contentious work enables her to support her clients in all aspects of their legal requirements, from drafting commercial agreements and facilitating transactions to resolving and litigating disputes.

Philippa has a practical, client-focused approach, stemming from several years spent working in-house for a marine insurer, and international experience gained from living and working overseas. 

Brodie specialises in contentious commercial matters and marine insurance claims, handling a broad range of marine disputes, including breach of contract, negligence, personal injury, debt recovery, and collisions. She also has significant experience in litigation and insurance claims, including subrogated insurance recovery and insured loss recovery.

In addition to her dispute resolution work, Brodie advises on non-contentious matters, regularly handling sale and purchase transactions and related commercial issues. Her clients include yacht owners, insurers, marinas, and legal expenses insurers.

Brodie joined the LA Marine team in 2021 after four years with Lester Aldridge and continues to provide strategic, commercial advice across both contentious and non-contentious marine matters.

Samantha is the NCTA Director. She has directed the research, visitor experience, business support and communications programmes of the Academy since its launch in summer 2013, including Coastal Communities Fund, UKCES and Discover England Fund projects.

Sam’s work focuses on national engagement and partnerships that will help boost tourism and the economies of coastal communities, with a particular emphasis on addressing seasonality. Sam works closely with a wide range of stakeholders including central government, VisitBritain, coastal businesses, destinations and national organisations. She frequently presents to Government inquiries, MPs and the media to raise awareness of key issues impacting coastal tourism in England. Samantha also oversees the ongoing development of the “England’s Coast” brand, originally funded by the Discover England Fund, it brings together all the component parts of the visitor economy to attract international visitors to our stunning coastline year round.

Bringing together a wide range of stakeholders, Sam led on the creation of the Vision for the Coastal Visitor Economy and has been raising awareness of coastal issues in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sam has a postgraduate degree in Tourism Management and over 25 year’s experience in the industry including previous roles at Carnival UK, Salisbury Cathedral, the British Tourist Authority (in Chicago) and Thomas Cook. Sam was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List in 2022 in recognition for services to England’s coastal tourism and supporting coastal tourism destinations through the pandemic.