Mr. James Michael Stephens has been the Vice President Corporate Affairs at DHL since September 2021. He is responsible for public affairs and stakeholder relations for DHL in the UK and Ireland.

Prior to joining DHL he had global responsibility for Government & Corporate Affairs at Aston Martin Lagonda and served in a number of senior positions for, Nissan Motor Company in Europe and BAE Systems in both the UK and United States.

He first joined BAE Systems in their London HQ in 2003 as a Government Relations Executive, leading on defence and strategic policy. In 2008 James was seconded to the Ministry of Defence to work for the then Chief of Defence Material, before taking up a posting in Washington DC as the Director of International Government Relations in 2010.

In 2012 James joined Nissan Motor Company in the UK as Head of UK Government Affairs dealing with all policy and strategic engagement relating to Nissan’s activities in the UK. In 2014 he took on the role of Head European Strategic Policy in addition to his UK responsibilities.

He moved to Aston Martin Lagonda in the summer of 2015 to develop a government affairs function for the growing luxury automotive business. During the course of his tenure he expanded this to cover all aspects of corporate affairs, including corporate PR and sustainability, developing the company’s first sustainability strategy.

Born in Hampshire, England, he earned a degree in Information Technology in 2003 from Southampton Solent University and studied International Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington DC. James is married with two children.