CONSTRUCTIVE EDGE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply
Charles is based in the United Arab Emirates and brings to the Constructive Edge team nearly 20 years experience living and working in the Middle East and ASEAN regions. Charles has both written policy on behalf of governments and designed and implemented solutions on behalf of industry.
Charles has overseen the successful completion of ICP and international development projects, and remains heavily involved in the UAE, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, as well as in destinations such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
Charles is a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, London Business School's Corporate Finance Programme and holds an MSc in strategic procurement management.
Dave has over 35 years of experience in international finance, countertrade & offsets and project development including time with Raytheon International and Export Development Canada.
Dave worked in Countertrade & Offsets for Babcock & Wilcox International located in Cambridge, Ontario during the 1980s. While there Dave worked on a number of projects in a variety of countries including Romania, China and Indonesia involving complex negotiations.
While at Babcock & Wilcox Dave was seconded to the Canadian Embassy in Caracas Venezuela where he worked to help Embassy officials understand the intricacies of selling public sector projects to foreign markets. After leaving Babcock & Wilcox he joined Export Development Canada, Canada's export marketing agency with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean. Dave then joined an investment fund involved in real-estate investments in Latin America where he became a partner. He was based in Panama.
He is fluent in Spanish and actively linked into government influencers and industry players in Latin America which will help monitor and build relationships with multiple industry ITB partners and structure the best possible ITB programs. Dave now lives in Ottawa. He is also an accomplished author of novels based on historical events.
Job Titles:
- International Senior Consultant
Resident in the UAE since 2008, Ian is an experienced international senior consultant, delivering confidential government and company strategies; he has built strong relationships with top-ranking leaders and organisations that demand integrity and discretion, providing expert advice that drives value, enhances capabilities and transforms organisations.
Laurence Van Bockel brings more than two decades of international business experience to Constructive Edge. Born and educated in Belgium, she first completed a Master in Law and then pursued a supplementary study of Notary Public. After having worked for three years for one of the most prestigious Offices of Notary in Belgium, she followed into the footsteps of her father, Louis Van Bockel, who was one of the pioneers in in the field of offsets and import reduction challenges imposed by governments.
Laurence is the EU based director of Constructive Edge, located in Belgium, and her focus is on that region and its evolving security interest and associated requirements. Laurence looks to identify business ventures and economic initiatives that meet the interest of both the governmental authorities and Constructive Edge's clients needing either to enhance their bid or fulfill requirements related to sales in the framework of public procurement. These project fulfillment processes vary from export promotion, business development, transfer of technology, investments and recently an increasing interest for development of socio-economic advantages.
For more than 10 years Laurence has been on the board of directors of the Global Industrial Cooperation Association and is now acting as Honorary Legal Counsel.
Malcolm is the Managing Partner of Constructive Edge. For 30 years a practising commercial lawyer in Australia, Malcolm since 1992 also led the C&I Projects Group, a very successful and respected corporate advisory firm specializing in all aspects of international offset and countertrade. The company is now part of the new, enlarged group trading as Constructive Edge.
Malcolm brings to the group a professional capability to identify, structure and conduct due diligence of prospective international business opportunities, strategies and projects. In Australia he leads defence and aerospace tender and bid response teams that can handle all aspects of the proposal, including AIC plans, intellectual property plans, contract terms and negotiations, project management issues and other specialist areas. Commercial relationship structuring, contract negotiations, intellectual property considerations and risk assessment are key skills of Malcolm. He is a past President of the Australian Countertrade Association; a former Councillor of the Asia Pacific Countertrade Association and a regular speaker at offset and international trade conferences around the world.
Malcolm has legal, investment banking, international business, defence contracting and strategic planning skills and holds a Masters of Law in Global Business Law as well as undergraduate degrees in Law and Commerce. He serves as a non-executive Director of various companies, many of which operate in international markets.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Managing Partner of Intelligent Decision Partners
Michael B. Marks is founder and Managing Partner of Intelligent Decision Partners, LLC, professional services and consulting firm that specializes in providing unique multi source intelligence and global technology research services to the government and private sector. He is a senior executive with over 40 years of public and private sector experience in international affairs and national security issues, development and application of innovative open source intelligence methodologies, global science and technology, U.S. global competitiveness issues, international technology trade, market awareness and business development concerning the federal government, and strategic planning.
Mr. Marks served in government for ten years, holding a number of high-level policy positions, both in the U.S. Executive and Legislative branches. Mr. Marks was Assistant Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President; Senior Policy Advisor to the Office of Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary for Security Assistance, Science and Technology, U.S. Department of State; and Legislative Assistant for Foreign Affairs and National Security, for Senator Jake Garn. Mr. Marks received a Master's Degree in Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh.
Neil is based in the USA but currently specializes in Canadian offset (ITB and VP) and defence procurement. He was GM of Textron Systems Canada Inc. (TSCI) from 2011 to 2017. He had been in International Business Development (IBD) and Offset in Textron Systems' (MA - 2002-2008). He was responsible for all Textron Systems' offset obligations for all its business units. He was able to introduce Textron's armoured vehicles to the Canadian Army before leaving Textron to become President of Blenheim's US company in DC (2009-2011).
Neil was brought back to Textron to set up TSCI to pursue the Tactical Armoured Patrol Vehicle competition in Canada, which Textron won in 2012 with a corresponding offset obligation ($600M). In 2015, Neil along with other offset experts established the Industrial Participation Association of Canada (IPAC) to reflect the obligors' viewpoint, where he was the first and current Chair.
Neil has continued to advise several companies on bids for Canadian defence procurements, including the ITB and Value Proposition requirements.
Neil is a licensed lawyer in Ontario, Canada and New York, USA and is a graduate of New York University's School of Law (LL.M. in international law), the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law (LL.B. or J.D.) and Queen's University (B.A. Hon.) He attended university on a military scholarship program and served in the Canadian Army as an artillery officer before law school.
Rajiv is a first generation entrepreneur based out of New Delhi. He is the founder of MJ Global Private Limited, a leading paper printing and packaging company based in New Delhi. In addition Rajiv has strong interests in the Indian defence sector. He is on the Managing Committee of PHD Chamber Of Commerce & Industry and for the past four terms has been Chairman of Defense Home Land Security Committee. He is the founder of C&I Projects Private Limited engaged in consulting and offset.
He is a trustee of Delhi World Foundation, an organization which has set up 54 English medium schools. 38 new schools are in the pipeline in different parts of India.
Robin D Carreras has built a strong 38+ years career in the U.S. and international defense and high technology industries sectors focusing on international sales and special projects development and management. He began his diverse defense experience with Rockwell International Corporation in 1985 and continued on in the defense industry with Rockwell Collins, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Raytheon Company, including the subsequent merger with United Technologies to form the new Raytheon Technologies Corporation/RTX. Robin retired from RTX in August 2023.
Robin's business experience covers various commercial sales and management activities prior to concentrating in the defense industry, specifically in Contracts Management, Export/Import activities, global Industrial Cooperation/Offsets Projects and International Business Development. These skill areas were used in developing and managing projects for Space (satellites, communications, imaging), Defense Electronics (airborne, land, maritime), Medical (dual-use), Software (dual-use), Science and R & D in support of defense products sales in the United States, Canada, Europe, Turkiye, Middle East/North Africa, and Asia Pacific (including Australia and New Zealand) with some additional experience in South America (Argentina, Brazil and Chile).
He holds two Bachelors Degrees in History and Cultural Anthropology from California State University-Fullerton and a Masters Degree in Business Management. Robin currently resides in Southern California, USA.
Stephen is based in the Constructive Edge London, UK office with a mandate that sees him service his clients and their offset needs in multiple markets. Those countries where he is currently heavily involved include South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Denmark, Norway, UAE, Oman, India and of course others as the need requires.
Prior to joining Constructive Edge in 2015, Stephen was a Head of Offset at Stemcor Trade Finance Ltd, the finance arm of a global trading company with an annual turnover in excess of US$1billion. He has worked in offset and countertrade for over 15 years and has been responsible for the identification, development and implementation of offset projects in over 20 countries for US and European defence and aerospace clients.
Stephen developed his involvement in offset through structured finance and banking relations that enabled him to develop export related opportunities in new markets across Europe and Africa. He has developed his portfolio of projects to include technology transfer, establishing engineering centres, medical R&D, healthcare centres and education programmes globally.
Tim is based in Canada and has responsibility for our major programs in that country with a focus for many years on IRB and now ITB requirements. Through C&I Projects group and now Constructive Edge, Tim has played a role in many major procurements in Canada and delivered substantial credits for clients. He is now bringing those specialist skills to the PPP and infrastructure sectors via Socio-Economic Advantage programs for bidders and project proponents and guidance to all layers of government on how to leverage public procurements to benefit communities and discriminate bids.
Tim has a long history in the industry since he joined the international division of global engineering, fabricator and contractor Babcock & Wilcox International (B&W) where his first assignment was to create a barter/countertrade structure on behalf of the Canadian Consortium of Candu Suppliers of which B&W was head. During his 11 years at B&W he managed numerous countertrade & offsets for public sector infrastructure projects on which B&W was bidding or under contract totaling well in excess of several billion dollars.
Along with Malcolm Taylor, Tim was a director of Newcourt Capital of Toronto's Offset & Structured Trade Finance team with offices in London, New York, Melbourne and Toronto. Prior to becoming one of the founders of Constructive Edge he was part of the C&I Projects group and works with clients in Canada, Europe and Asia preparing proposals and helping them meet their offset obligations. Tim is a graduate of Commerce from Queen's University.
Tom is based in Raleigh, North Carolina and brings to the Constructive Edge team nearly 30 years of professional and educational experience in international business with a focus on marketing, business development, market entry and finance. Tom currently focuses on markets such as The Netherlands, Scandinavia and South Korea and also directs some of our specific industry programs including Executive Education courses with Georgetown University and export and market entry services for small to medium sized companies.
Tom worked with Alcatel Telecommunications and other organizations on four continents to assist in bringing Alcatel's DSL product to market. While in marketing at Alcatel, Tom managed Alcatel's interface with one of the largest US based service providers and a number of partner companies as a product manager.
Tom has successfully negotiated, managed and fulfilled industrial participation and offset programs for the world's largest defense and aerospace companies as well as SME's. Tom has extensive experience providing marketing, market entry and business development services in the security, life sciences, energy and resources space.
Tom has an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird.