Honorary Members

Breaking down Barriers

The Hungarian British Business Alliance (HBBA) in the United Kingdom is an independent, not for profit organisation. Established on 21st January 2022 to promote bilateral commerce, tourism, manufacturing, shipping, professional services and relations between the United Kingdom and Hungary as well as other Central European countries.

KuminF kép

Dr Ferenc Kumin

The Ambassador of Hungary in the United Kingdom

Ferenc Kumin is an economist, political scientist, and international relations expert. He holds two MAs, one from the Corvinus University of Budapest, the other from Central European University, and has earned his PhD degree at the former.

He started his carrier as a political analyst in 2002 with frequent appearances in various media. In the meantime, he started his guest lecturing activity at Századveg Political School, Corvinus University of Budapest, later at Budapest College of Communication and Business, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, and Mathias Corvinus Collegium.

In 2006, he became head of department at the Office of the President of the Republic responsible for the communication and strategic planning of the former Head of State, László Sólyom. Before becoming Deputy State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for international communications in 2012, he worked for two years as senior analyst at a conservative think-tank, Századvég Foundation. In 2014, he was appointed as Consul General of Hungary in New York. After returning to Budapest in 2018, he served as Deputy State Secretary for the Development of European and North American Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. From May 2020, Ferenc Kumin is the Hungarian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s in London.
PaulFox

Paul Fox

The Ambassador of Great Britain in Hungary

Melanie - Hbba

Melanie Seymour

Vice President, Women in Banking and Finance

Melanie has over 30 years of experience in Finance and Banking holding senior roles in Technology, Operations, and Change Management as well as running her own business. She is passionate about education and developing the next generation of leaders, mentoring several men and women both internally and externally.

In 2015 and 2019 Melanie was recognized as one of Brummells Top 30 Inspiring Women in the City. She joined the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance in 2017 after three years as Vice President.

In 2018 Melanie was awarded the Knight of Cross from the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic as an acknowledgement of her valuable contribution to the modernization and improvement of the Hungarian economy, the financial system and the strengthening of the innovation capability of the country.”

In April 2019 Melanie was appointed as the Head of Global Client Services. In this role, she is responsible for leading a global team to deliver an outstanding client experience to new and existing clients across all products and distribution channels.

CNY2020-85-crp-1816x2048

David Stinger-Lamarre

Founder & Managing Director at Fortis Consulting London

David is an experienced board member and company director, with deep experience of international trade. He is the Managing Director of Fortis Consulting London (FCL). The main activity is business development for organisations, matching appropriate companies; international & UK. David is the Strategy Director for Medical Prime, a private Menopause & GP clinic.
He is the Institute of Directors’ (IoD), Special Advisor International and a member of the IoD Global Trade Taskforce.
 
He has a deep interest in cross-border trade, corporate governance, innovation and entrepreneurship. David is a Fellow of the IoD and has several degrees including Law and International Relations. He has spoken at many events focused on international trade.

He is The Master of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers in the City of London, an ancient Livery Company, first recorded in the 1300's  David is an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at Bayes Business School.
Sir Samuel

Sir Samuel Jonah

Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital

Exceptional leadership ability with a stellar track record of management success across multiple industries and jurisdictions spanning 5 decades. Adept and proficient business magnate, internationally recognised for commercial acumen and pragmatic leadership style.
 
A proven track record of manoeuvring the global business landscape with extensive experience in strategic leadership practice across multiple industries. A motivated public figure, driven by excellence in delivery and a desire to mentor, coach and develop the potential of leaders, institutions, colleagues and staff. Keen advocate for ethical business practice.
AndrewLambertpng

Andrew Lambert

Chairman of the International Trade IoD, Founder and CEO at Electronic Media Services Ltd

Founder and CEO of Electronic Media Services Ltd (EMS) and Founder and COO of Fibre Ltd. He is Chair of the IoD London, International Trade Special Interest Group. Andrew is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Technology. He is an experienced board-level executive with a proven record of developing new technology to solve business problems with extensive practical experience of working in Europe and Asia.
 
EMS is a Technology Consultancy and Telecoms Company, which manufactures, the award-winning i-MO® 4G/5G WAN router appliances and associated Optibond® Software Defined Networking (SDN) cloud management software.
 
Andrew is a Founder and CTO of Fibre Ltd a telecoms company that installs full-fibre broadband to new housing developments. He is also Vice-Chair of the techUK UK-China Tech Forum and a member of the UK5G International Trade and SME/LEP Working Groups.
Judit Czako

Judit Czakó

Investment and Trade Commissioner at the Embassy of Hungary

As an investment and trade commissioner, Judit is engaged in developing business relationship between Hungary and the United Kingdom. Her focus is on realizing the Government’s priorities by getting foreign direct investments into Hungary and facilitating export of SME companies. Since taking this office Judit has been working closely with UK business communities and companies. Judit has a strong investment promotion background.
Prior to being posted to the UK, she worked in the same position in New York City and before that she was a member of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency’s team (HIPA), being responsible for investment projects of foreign companies, representing a variety of sectors. Judit started her career as a consultant at HIPA, later she became head of the department for Incentives. She has been working closely with many multinational companies managing their investment projects from the decision-making phases throughout their implementation resulting in thousands of newly created jobs in Hungary. She gets inspired and gains new ideas for her professional life while her long-distance runs.
Picture 1

Krisztina Görög

Director, Foreign Direct Investment - DIT Central Europe Network Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia

Krisztina has been with DIT for over 10 years. She started as a trade adviser supporting UK exports to Hungary and she joined the DIT Europe Central Inward Investment team in October 2017. Her job is to identify those Hungarian, Slovenian and Croatian companies that plan to internationalise their business, and promote the UK as an ideal destination for them to go global.
Krisztina is based in Budapest but she works closely with DIT teams in Slovenia and Croatia.
ImreHild (1)

Imre Hild

CEO of Obuda University Venture Capital

Imre Hild is now the CEO of OUVC, a university-backed 30M euro VC fund operating out of Budapest, investing in deep tech and AI startups.

Imre has been involved in the Hungarian and CEE ecosystem from its inception Upon return from the USA where he worked for LehmanFirst he founded two startups - both in the 'life annuity for real estate' space - and thus created a new industry segment.

After the credit crunch of 2008 he started to use his venture-building skills with other companies. He worked with VC portfolios, founded accelerators, built CEE consortium of accelerators, and developed training courses for mentoring, international market access and other startup-related topics.

In 2018-2019 he led the effort of EIT to establish a soft landing ground in Tel Aviv to learn about proper ecosystem building.

KuminF kép

Dr Ferenc Kumin

The Ambassador of Hungary in the United Kingdom

Ferenc Kumin is an economist, political scientist, and international relations expert. He holds two MAs, one from the Corvinus University of Budapest, the other from Central European University, and has earned his PhD degree at the former.

He started his carrier as a political analyst in 2002 with frequent appearances in various media. In the meantime, he started his guest lecturing activity at Századveg Political School, Corvinus University of Budapest, later at Budapest College of Communication and Business, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, and Mathias Corvinus Collegium.

In 2006, he became head of department at the Office of the President of the Republic responsible for the communication and strategic planning of the former Head of State, László Sólyom. Before becoming Deputy State Secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for international communications in 2012, he worked for two years as senior analyst at a conservative think-tank, Századvég Foundation. In 2014, he was appointed as Consul General of Hungary in New York. After returning to Budapest in 2018, he served as Deputy State Secretary for the Development of European and North American Relations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. From May 2020, Ferenc Kumin is the Hungarian Ambassador to the Court of St James’s in London.
PaulFox

Paul Fox

The Ambassador of Great Britain in Hungary

Melanie - Hbba

Melanie Seymour

Vice President, Women in Banking and Finance

Melanie has over 30 years of experience in Finance and Banking holding senior roles in Technology, Operations, and Change Management as well as running her own business. She is passionate about education and developing the next generation of leaders, mentoring several men and women both internally and externally.

In 2015 and 2019 Melanie was recognized as one of Brummells Top 30 Inspiring Women in the City. She joined the Advisory Board of Women in Banking and Finance in 2017 after three years as Vice President.

In 2018 Melanie was awarded the Knight of Cross from the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic as an acknowledgement of her valuable contribution to the modernization and improvement of the Hungarian economy, the financial system and the strengthening of the innovation capability of the country.”

In April 2019 Melanie was appointed as the Head of Global Client Services. In this role, she is responsible for leading a global team to deliver an outstanding client experience to new and existing clients across all products and distribution channels.

CNY2020-85-crp-1816x2048

David Stinger-Lamarre

Founder & Managing Director at Fortis Consulting London

David is an experienced board member and company director, with deep experience of international trade. He is the Managing Director of Fortis Consulting London (FCL). The main activity is business development for organisations, matching appropriate companies; international & UK. David is the Strategy Director for Medical Prime, a private Menopause & GP clinic.
He is the Institute of Directors’ (IoD), Special Advisor International and a member of the IoD Global Trade Taskforce.
 
He has a deep interest in cross-border trade, corporate governance, innovation and entrepreneurship. David is a Fellow of the IoD and has several degrees including Law and International Relations. He has spoken at many events focused on international trade.

He is The Master of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers in the City of London, an ancient Livery Company, first recorded in the 1300's  David is an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow at Bayes Business School.
Sir Samuel

Sir Samuel Jonah

Executive Chairman of Jonah Capital

Exceptional leadership ability with a stellar track record of management success across multiple industries and jurisdictions spanning 5 decades. Adept and proficient business magnate, internationally recognised for commercial acumen and pragmatic leadership style.
 
A proven track record of manoeuvring the global business landscape with extensive experience in strategic leadership practice across multiple industries. A motivated public figure, driven by excellence in delivery and a desire to mentor, coach and develop the potential of leaders, institutions, colleagues and staff. Keen advocate for ethical business practice.
AndrewLambertpng

Andrew Lambert

Chairman of the International Trade IoD, Founder and CEO at Electronic Media Services Ltd

Founder and CEO of Electronic Media Services Ltd (EMS) and Founder and COO of Fibre Ltd. He is Chair of the IoD London, International Trade Special Interest Group. Andrew is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Engineering Technology. He is an experienced board-level executive with a proven record of developing new technology to solve business problems with extensive practical experience of working in Europe and Asia.
 
EMS is a Technology Consultancy and Telecoms Company, which manufactures, the award-winning i-MO® 4G/5G WAN router appliances and associated Optibond® Software Defined Networking (SDN) cloud management software.
 
Andrew is a Founder and CTO of Fibre Ltd a telecoms company that installs full-fibre broadband to new housing developments. He is also Vice-Chair of the techUK UK-China Tech Forum and a member of the UK5G International Trade and SME/LEP Working Groups.
Judit Czako

Judit Czakó

Investment and Trade Commissioner at the Embassy of Hungary

As an investment and trade commissioner, Judit is engaged in developing business relationship between Hungary and the United Kingdom. Her focus is on realizing the Government’s priorities by getting foreign direct investments into Hungary and facilitating export of SME companies. Since taking this office Judit has been working closely with UK business communities and companies. Judit has a strong investment promotion background.
Prior to being posted to the UK, she worked in the same position in New York City and before that she was a member of the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency’s team (HIPA), being responsible for investment projects of foreign companies, representing a variety of sectors. Judit started her career as a consultant at HIPA, later she became head of the department for Incentives. She has been working closely with many multinational companies managing their investment projects from the decision-making phases throughout their implementation resulting in thousands of newly created jobs in Hungary. She gets inspired and gains new ideas for her professional life while her long-distance runs.
Picture 1

Krisztina Görög

Director, Foreign Direct Investment - DIT Central Europe Network Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia

Krisztina has been with DIT for over 10 years. She started as a trade adviser supporting UK exports to Hungary and she joined the DIT Europe Central Inward Investment team in October 2017. Her job is to identify those Hungarian, Slovenian and Croatian companies that plan to internationalise their business, and promote the UK as an ideal destination for them to go global.
Krisztina is based in Budapest but she works closely with DIT teams in Slovenia and Croatia.
ImreHild (1)

Imre Hild

CEO of Obuda University Venture Capital

Imre Hild is now the CEO of OUVC, a university-backed 30M euro VC fund operating out of Budapest, investing in deep tech and AI startups.

Imre has been involved in the Hungarian and CEE ecosystem from its inception Upon return from the USA where he worked for LehmanFirst he founded two startups - both in the 'life annuity for real estate' space - and thus created a new industry segment.

After the credit crunch of 2008 he started to use his venture-building skills with other companies. He worked with VC portfolios, founded accelerators, built CEE consortium of accelerators, and developed training courses for mentoring, international market access and other startup-related topics.

In 2018-2019 he led the effort of EIT to establish a soft landing ground in Tel Aviv to learn about proper ecosystem building.

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