UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the government's international business development body, announced today the appointment of Chris Fitzpatrick as a non-executive director.

Chris Fitzpatrick is Chief Executive of Renewable Energy East Midlands Ltd.  He is also a member of the following Boards: The East Midlands - Yorkshire & Humberside Industrial Development Board, Interim Nottinghamshire Economic Development Partnership, Think Children and Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire. He sits on the Enterprise Loan Panel for Lincolnshire.

He was selected in an open competition along with Chris Fitzpatrick, Alan Jenkins and Mark Gostick and will begin his appointment on 1 October. The four new appointees will serve on the board for two years, and will join existing board member, Tim Robinson, chief executive of pensions and financial services firm Xafinity

UKTI's Chief Executive Sir Andrew Cahn said: "The UK's future prosperity depends on our ability to generate exports and to continue to attract high quality investment. UK Trade & Investment has been very successful in doing this. These new appointments will bring much valuable experience to this vital task."

Speaking on his appointment, Chris Fitzpatrick said: "I am very pleased to be working with UKTI and look forward to making my contribution to help the team deliver increased export trade and inward investment. This will provide an important route for us to climb out of the current recession, and help secure our future economic prosperity," he said.

UKTI helps UK-based firms to internationalise. In the last 12 months, UKTI has helped over 20,700 UK businesses, 90% of which are small and medium-sized, to generate £3.6 billion in additional profit. Independent research shows every £1 spent by UKTI helps its clients to generate £16.

UKTI simultaneously works to attract high quality investment. Results for the last financial year showed that UK had attracted 1,744 investment projects that created 35,000 new jobs.