Paul Lewis

Managing Director

Paul was appointed to the position of MD SDI and SE International Operations on 13 April 2015 heading up SDI, the international operations arm of Scotland’s agencies and a partnership between the Scottish Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise. He manages SE’s Scotland-based trade and investment teams led by International Sector Heads, plus a network of 28 overseas offices across EMEA, Asia Pacific and Americas, helping companies and sectors move into international markets with the best opportunities for them, and help inward investors see the value of Scotland’s business environment.

Paul has worked for Scottish Enterprise for over 28 years. Prior to his recent appointment, he was Managing Director of Operations: Sectors, High Growth Ventures & Investment – responsible for the successful development of Scottish Enterprise’s policy and priorities in response to the Government’s economic strategy, focused on the needs of specific industry sectors. His industry responsibilities covered sectors in which Scotland has competitive advantage and which offer global opportunities for sustainable economic growth. These include: Energy, Financial Services, Food & Drink, Life & Chemical Sciences, ICT, Tourism and Textiles as well as other growth sectors in Scotland. Prior to that, Paul was the Senior Director of Infrastructure responsible for a £100m annual investment programme across Scotland.

In his career to date, Paul has helped deliver a range of flagship projects across the industry sectors such as Edinburgh’s £200m life science BioQuarter, Clyde Waterfront £1bn Regeneration and Edinburgh International Conference Centre and Financial Centre.

At present, Paul is a member of the Scottish Government Internationalisation Working Group, Glasgow Economic Leadership Board and DIT Executive Forum, among others.

Paul is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh where he gained a BSc (Hons) and has an MBA from Strathclyde Graduate Business School.

He is married with three children.