An Honorary Fellow of Brunel University London, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD), the Automated Customs International Trade Association (ACITA) Ash is a Business Consultant, Mentor, Facilitator, Social Entrepreneur and one of the founder members of West London Business.

Ash has been acknowledged in the Asian Power 100 publications as one of several influencers on Asian matters in the UK and was the co-author of the report on the former Employment Department Group’s “Policies, Practices and Procedures on Race Relations”.

A former British Civil Servant, Ash has held senior leadership, consultancy, delivery, and advisory positions across various areas of Government policy ranging from regeneration and economic development to international trade and community cohesion to health and wellbeing during a fifty-year professional and business career.  These include: Chief Executive of the former Heathrow City Partnership, where he led £50m investment in complex regeneration, economic development, enterprise support, workforce skills and transport projects, like Hayes Business Studios, Southall Business Centre, and Routes to Work and Leader of West London Task Force, a £10m inner cities regeneration and community cohesion initiative.  He was also Business Development Director, for the former Government Office for London, where he managed £200m of central Government investment in skills, enterprise and regeneration programmes and initiatives delivered by local authorities, the private sector, universities, and further education colleges.

As architect of the former Gateway Asia – a business led, knowledge driven B2B bi-lateral trade support initiative, and now part of Ash Verma Consulting, Ash and his associates have worked with over 100 business to access overseas markets and led in-and-out bound bi-lateral trade delegations to India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius, Kenya, Czech Republic, Germany, France, and the US. 

Ash is a Non-Executive Director on various private and charitable sector Boards.  He is a Trustee and Vice Chairman of Community ConneX Ltd an organisation dedicated to campaigning and delivering services for people with learning disabilities, and   Chairman of its subsidiary company, Enterprise Wellness, which manages Healthwatch Harrow, the consumer champion for healthcare services in Harrow, and Engagement ConneX, which designs and delivers a range of campaigning, community outreach and engagement services.  He is also Chairman of Capable Communities, a social enterprise that supports the welfare of disadvantaged adults in North-West London.

Other roles include business planning, raising investment and facilitating joint ventures for a Low Carbon City Development Project in South Korea, PPE manufacturers and distributors, feature films and TV serials focusing on Asian Family life, women and children’s clothing, healthcare, and natural stone products companies in India.  Ash is also a sponsor partner with the British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards (BEDSA) and the Asian Viewers TV Awards (AVTA) and pioneer of a pilot Bollywood Acting Academy in the UK.

Ash is also working with Brunel University’s Co-Innovate Programme Team and the College of Health and Life Sciences, to design and deliver a series of B2B events and mentoring services targeted at London’s SMEs as they navigate out of the current COVID-19 pandemic, build resilience, innovation, and wellbeing into their organizations, move forward into a post-Brexit era and assist those seeking to access overseas markets.