PwC pair appointed as NSW trade and investment commissioners
Current and former PwC partners Andrew Parker and Vishwesh Padmanabhan have been named as NSW senior trade commissioners, respectively for ASEAN and for India plus the Middle East.
As part of its post-pandemic recovery plan to establish six global Investment NSW hubs across key international regions, the NSW government has appointed PwC partner Andrew Parker as its for ASEAN. Parker, who will be based out of Singapore, is joined by another PwC Australia alum, Vishwesh Padmanabhan, who takes on the equivalent role for India and the Middle East.
Andrew Parker is set to depart PwC at the end of March after close to four decades with the global firm, first joining PwC’s Chatswood office in 1985 straight out of school before gaining partnership in 1999. Since then, Parker has served in the UK, Russia and Indonesia, and has for the past seven years led PwC Australia’s Asia practice. In addition, he is a director on the board of the Australia Indonesia Centre, of which PwC is a corporate sponsor.
“ASEAN collectively represents NSW’s third largest two-way trading partner after China and the USA, and the fourth largest investor into Australia,” Parker commented. “The $3 trillion economies of ASEAN provide multiple opportunities for NSW exporters, from premium food and beverage makers through to medtech, fintech and cyber businesses, to access a growing population base that is young, tech-savvy, and increasingly middle class.”
Prior to leaving in the middle of the year to work as an independent consultant, Vishwesh Padmanabhan had since late 2018 served as KPMG India’s Technology Managing Partner. Prior, he spent somewhere in the order of a decade with PwC, including as a technology consulting partner out of Melbourne and as the leader of the firm’s ICT business for Southeast Asia. He earlier notched up two decades as a consultant for IBM, and was the CIO for Telstra.
“NSW has a strong relationship with India, one built on trade, business, culture and significant people-to-people links,” Padmanabhan said. “With the world’s largest democracy and a young population, India is one of NSW’s most promising sources of growth and continues to generate immense opportunities for NSW business. I’m looking forward to drawing on my experience and relationships to create strong trade pathways.”
The appointments of Parker and Padmanabhan follows that of Michael Newman to the North Asia role and Stephen Cartwright for the UK, Europe and Israel, with the Greater China and Americas posts to be announced in time. The cohort have been tasked with driving export and investment opportunities for the state, with NSW ambitiously aiming to more than double its exports value to $200 billion over the coming decade.
“The NSW Government is committed to helping NSW businesses diversify and recover from the disruptions this pandemic has caused,” said Trade & Industry minister Stuart Ayres. “We are setting ambitious targets, but we are also supporting those targets with the resources to make them a reality. I am thrilled with the appointments of Mr Parker and Mr Padmanabhan and look forward to working with them in the new year.”
