Key Spokespeople
The British Chambers of Commerce is a non-political, non-profit making organisation, owned and directed by its members, democratically accountable to individual businesses of all sizes and sectors throughout the UK.
The British Chambers of Commerce Key Spokespeople are listed below:
John Longworth
Director General, British Chambers of Commerce
John Longworth originally trained as a scientist. Over the course of his career, he has served as an Executive Main Board Director of Asda Group Ltd and Asda Financial Services Ltd, and held senior director positions at Tesco Stores Ltd and the CWS Ltd.
His public roles have included the board of a Healthcare Trust and the British Retail Consortium. He was economic spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry, Chairman of its Distributive Trades Panel and Chairman of the Brussels based CIES International Product Standards and Trade Body.
A former Health and Safety Commissioner and Chairman of the HSE Audit Committee, John also sat on the original Deregulation Task Force. He assisted a leading Healthcare Trust to establish a commercial and marketing operation, and currently has a portfolio career as chair and founder of a venture capital-backed science and professional services business, SVA Ltd; non-executive director at the Co-operative Group Food Ltd; non-executive director of Nichols plc; and trustee of the social enterprise P3.
Dr Adam Marshall
Director of Policy and External Affairs, British Chambers of Commerce
Adam Marshall was appointed Director of Policy and External Affairs at the BCC in July 2009. Adam represents the interests of the Chamber of Commerce Network - with 55 accredited Chambers and over 100,000 member businesses across the UK - in Whitehall, Westminster and the media.
Prior to joining the BCC, Adam was Head of Policy at the Centre for Cities think-tank. During his five years at the Centre (2004-2009), Adam played a central role in the organisation's start-up and spin-out from the Institute for Public Policy Research. He also led work on city leadership, transport, local finance, and economic development.
Previously, Adam also worked for the Cambridge-MIT Institute (2003-2004), and in local politics in his native Washington DC.
Adam holds a BA from Yale University, and MPhil and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge.
David Kern
Chief Economist, British Chambers of Commerce
David is responsible for preparing the BCC’s Quarterly Economic Forecast, and is closely involved in the analysis and presentation of the BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey (QES).
David Kern was for more than 17 years NatWest Group’s Chief Economist and Head of the Bank’s Market Intelligence Department, before setting up in 2000 his independent macro-economic consultancy. As part of his work at NatWest, he was responsible for the economic and financial forecasts used in the bank’s strategic planning, and for NatWest’s economic work on country and credit risk assessment.
David Kern holds an M.Sc. (Econ) in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).