Christina Hunnings

Senior Investment Connector

I started my career in information management working in the public library service and soon moved on to business intelligence research for multinational organisations in London such as AIG Europe.

Since moving down to Cornwall I have been involved in a variety of projects to help different sections of the community, tackling unemployment, loan sharks, IT literacy, raising awareness of intellectual property and directing businesses to free support. Over time I have been developing networks to work with me on these projects and making connections between them and customers.

When I’m not matching customers to business support and funds, I can be found hill walking, enjoying a bit of nature photography, making things out of wire and playing skittles for my local team.

Most useful training course I’ve been on: Pheonix Project in conjunction with Liskeard Fire & Rescue Service. We wore firemen uniforms all week (helmets are surprisingly heavy), did drills every morning and practiced problem solving, team communication, emergency life saving techniques and did some firefighting training. Some of the practical sessions (especially the breathing apparatus one) gave an unparalleled lesson in the importance of communication between team mates – an unforgettable and eye-opening experience.

Career highlight: being given the autonomy to respond to the needs of the community and create services that really made a difference. I set up several work clubs with IT sessions alongside to help those who found themselves suddenly out of work and with no digital skills, adapt to the ‘digital by default’ world and apply for jobs online. I developed and expanded the intellectual property (IP) service, Patlib, so that more businesses in the Southwest became aware of the IP they owned and so could protect and commercialise it.