Paul Burfield

Paul Burfield currently co-leads Austrade’s Defence, Space & Infrastructure sectors across North America, working closely with Austrade’s trade & investment specialists to create opportunities for Australian companies to win business across the region in addition to driving productive foreign direct investment into Australia from North American Investors. Paul also serves as Trade Practices Leader for The Americas taking overall responsibility for expanding Austrade’s development & delivery of Trade Services to Australian companies across the region.

Paul recently joined Austrade after concluding a 19-year career with Enterprise Ireland, the Venture Capital arm of the Government of Ireland.

Over this time, Paul has led numerous senior executive teams across multiple geographies including the UK, Australia/New Zealand and the United States, supporting Irish technology companies to start, commercialize & globalize, in addition to managing relationships with critical stakeholders at the most senior levels of Government & industry.

In his most recent role in San Francisco, Paul and his team were responsible for providing strategic direction & business development connections for a $1.69bn portfolio of 300+ Irish technology companies crossing multiple sectors including Cybersecurity, IoT, Telecommunications, Travel, Media & Content and Enterprise SaaS.

Prior to joining Enterprise Ireland, Paul worked in senior marketing roles with Fortune 500 company, Avery Dennison, across Europe in addition to being part of the founding team of a consumer product start-up company in Australia.

A native of Adelaide, Paul holds degree qualifications in Marketing and Accounting from the University of South Australia & University of Tasmania.

Along with his wife Caroline, Paul is a keen golfer, avid snowboarder and has a passion for travel and all the cuisines that come with it.