Richmond - The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) today announced that Andrew Harfoot will serve as Director of State of Virginia, United Kingdom and Ireland, and Heather Wells as Business Attraction Manager.

Both Harfoot and Wells are Directors of Springboard Marketing Limited. For the last 10 years they have represented the state capital region of Greater Richmond, Virginia in Northern Europe. Springboard Marketing Limited was established in 1992, employs 10 marketing professionals and is ISO 9001 quality accredited. The firm specializes in B2B marketing and is also accredited by the UK Market Research Society.

Harfoot holds a Masters in Marketing, is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a Freeman of the City of London. Wells holds an MBA (Henley) and the post graduate Diploma in Marketing of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Both Harfoot and Wells are registered as Marketing Consultants by the CIM.

VEDP has maintained operations in the UK and Ireland since 2010.

“The UK and Ireland continue to be important, growing markets for Virginia, and VEDP is pleased to have Andrew Harfoot and Heather Wells join our team,” said Martin Briley, VEDP President and CEO. “Both Andrew and Heather have extensive knowledge of Virginia, and will now tell the Commonwealth’s strong business story on behalf of VEDP. International marketing is critical to remaining competitive in economic development, and we are confident that both Andrew and Heather’s marketing experience will be valuable assets as we continue to endorse Virginia overseas.”

“The Springboard team is very excited by this appointment and we will do our utmost to identify relevant firms that wish to invest in Virginia,” said Harfoot. "Springboard will use its tried and tested intelligent B2B targeting procedures to encourage relevant UK and Irish firms to visit Virginia and understand why it is consistently voted the Best State for Business by Forbes.com,” said Wells.

When not marketing Virginia in the UK and Ireland, Harfoot enjoys travelling with his wife, Carol, and entertaining their five grandchildren. Wells enjoys gardening and good food. She and her husband, Tony, are also part way through walking the UK’s South West Coastal Path.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership, a marketing organization, was created by the Virginia General Assembly in 1995 to encourage, stimulate, and support the development and expansion of the economy of the Commonwealth. The Partnership is a state authority, which is governed by a 24-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor and the Virginia General Assembly. To accomplish its objectives of promoting economic expansion within the Commonwealth, the Partnership focuses its efforts on business recruitment, expansion and international trade. VEDP has offices in Virginia, Germany, Shanghai, Mexico, Japan, India and the United Kingdom.