Eric Van der Kleij

Senior Dealmaker and Chief Adviser, Directorate for Investment.

In 2009 Eric was appointed Chief Adviser to UK Trade & Investment’s Directorate for Investment, where he focuses on developing the UK’s collaboration with larger scale international investors into major investment projects.

Prior to that in 2003, Eric helped establish the UK Government’s pioneering Global Entrepreneur Programme, which attracts high potential entrepreneurs and IP to the UK and supports their international growth from a UK hub. Eric continues in his Senior Dealmaker role and is one of the key architects of the GEP’s highly successful strategy.

Uniquely, UK Trade & Investment attracts successful entrepreneurs from industry who continue to be active and accomplished executives in their own right. Eric is an established businessman and serial entrepreneur with over 30 years experience, who previously founded financial services pioneer Adeptra, which now counts the majority of leading financial institutions as clients, across North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Eric grew Adeptra from inception, raising over $40M from Deutsche Bank, ABS Ventures, Barclays Ventures, Advent Ventures, NIB Alpinvest, and ACT Ventures, then recruited the chairman and CEO and exited to launch the Global Entrepreneur Programme.

Within UKTI’s GEP Programme, Eric specialises in digital media/high-tech/mobile, energy/renewables and cleantech businesses, where he combines hands-on experience in investing and establishing successful global businesses with developing and exploiting intellectual property. To date the GEP programme has attracted over $200M in investment into early-stage companies and helped establish over 45 businesses in the UK.

Eric continues to build his portfolio of private business activities, separate from his work at UK Trade & Investment, ranging from the development of a revolutionary cleantech Copper processing technology, to a training organisation providing high-calibre media training and development services to senior executives from governments and industry.