Andrew Wilson
A senior panel at Davos, a COP side event, a global sales kick-off with a live CEO interview in the middle: the format is only as good as the person running the room. Most hosts either smooth the edges off a conversation or lose control of it. Leaders need someone who can chair the discussion a board would have if the cameras were off, and still land it to time.
Andrew Wilson is a former Sky News foreign correspondent and anchor who now chairs live corporate debates, CEO interviews and policy panels for boards and summits that need a credible journalist in the chair.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Andrew Wilson
- A decade reporting from Moscow, Jerusalem and Washington gives him the standing to interview heads of state, ministers and CEOs without deferring to them, and without grandstanding.
- RTS-winning presenting craft from Sky News Live at 5 means he controls pace, time and tone on a live stage the way a broadcast studio expects, which is rare on the corporate circuit.
- Regular moderator at the World Economic Forum in Davos and at COP conferences, which means he arrives fluent in the vocabulary of geopolitics, macro risk and climate policy rather than briefed on it the night before.
- A Reuters track record of sit-down interviews with international CEOs, directly applicable to sponsor-led fireside formats, AGMs and leadership off-sites where the quality of the questions is the product.
- Editorial independence on sensitive material: conflict coverage from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Chechnya and Iraq means he is comfortable in rooms where the subject matter is politically live.
Biography highlights
- Former Sky News foreign correspondent in Moscow, Jerusalem and Washington DC, with international awards from each posting.
- Presenter of Sky News Live at 5, winner of the RTS Best News Programme award in 2016.
- Ten years presenting current affairs on Sky News, including coverage of three US presidential elections, Russian and Israeli elections, and conflicts in Afghanistan, Libya, Gaza, Ukraine and Iraq.
- Moderator and interviewer at the World Economic Forum in Davos and at COP environmental conferences; host of Virgin Formula E events in New York and Paris.
- Conducted CEO interview series internationally for Reuters.
- Member of BAFTA, mentor with the John Schofield Trust, and contributor to the Westminster foreign-affairs think tank Global Strategy Forum.
Biography
Live-television credibility is hard to fake on a corporate stage. A host either controls the room, the clock and the interview, or the audience quietly checks out. Wilson spent a decade as a Sky News foreign correspondent in Moscow, Jerusalem and Washington, then close to ten years anchoring current affairs in London, which is where that control comes from.
The editorial range is unusually wide for an event moderator. He reported the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and, since then, conflict and breaking news from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Gaza, Chechnya, Lebanon, Iraq and the Asian Tsunami, along with three US presidential cycles and Russian and Israeli elections. His programme Live at 5 won the RTS Best News Programme award in 2016.
That grounding now carries into a second career hosting leadership conversations where the subject matter is serious. He moderates at the World Economic Forum in Davos and at COP environmental conferences, has run CEO interview series for Reuters, and hosts Virgin Formula E events in New York and Paris. He is a member of BAFTA, mentors emerging journalists through the John Schofield Trust, and contributes to the Westminster foreign-affairs think tank Global Strategy Forum.
For organisations putting a senior figure on stage, the value is specific. Wilson is the journalist in the chair who has already covered the story, already interviewed the type of person sitting across from him, and already worked to a live clock every night for a decade.
Key speaking topics
- Corporate event hosting and conference moderation
- CEO fireside interviews and on-stage panels
- Geopolitics and international affairs
- US politics and elections
- Climate policy, COP and sustainability
- Media and communications skills training
Ideal for
- Boards, CEOs and investor-day organisers commissioning a live on-stage interview or panel
- Sustainability, ESG and policy conferences wanting a moderator fluent in COP and Davos language
- Global sales kick-offs, leadership summits and AGMs where the chair needs to handle live Q and A with senior external guests
- Communications and PR leaders running media-skills or crisis-interview training for executives
Audience outcomes
- A meeting where senior speakers are drawn out rather than read from notes, with time kept and the agenda landed.
- Panel discussions with clearer editorial framing and sharper questions than an internal moderator typically delivers.
- On-stage CEO interviews that read as credible to journalists, analysts and investors in the room.
- Sessions on geopolitics and sustainability that are chaired with working knowledge of the vocabulary, not a briefing document read aloud.