Greg Williams
Senior leaders are being asked to commit capital and strategy to technologies whose second-order effects are still being written. The gap is not a shortage of information about AI, cybersecurity or platform shifts. It is the absence of a sober, editorially disciplined read on which signals matter, which are noise, and what the next eighteen months look like for the companies making the bets.
Greg Williams is a strategic forecaster and former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED UK who helps organisations read how big technology companies are reshaping markets, capital flows and the global order.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Greg Williams
- His forthcoming book Code, Capital, Power (2027) is the spine of his current work: how big technology companies have redefined markets, reshaped global order and bent society to their design. The keynote is the boardroom version of that argument.
- Sixteen years at WIRED, including close to a decade as Editor-in-Chief of the UK edition, gave him access most writers on this beat do not get. Satya Nadella, Demis Hassabis, Reid Hoffman, Albert Bourla, Prime Ministers Blair, May and Johnson have all sat across from him. That access feeds directly into how he frames emerging signals for boards.
- He is cofounder of The Venture Group, an AI-first business operating as a founder accelerator programme. That adds an operator’s vantage point to the journalist’s depth he built at WIRED.
- Four-time British Society of Magazine Editors Editor of the Year for Science and Technology, and Chair of Judges for The Orwell Prize for Journalism 2026. Both are independent external markers that his judgement on this beat is taken seriously by people who track it closely.
- He works equally well as keynote, interviewer and on-stage moderator, which matters when the programme needs him to hold a room with a head of state, a founder and a regulator on the same panel. McKinsey and BCG have used him to host private leadership formats for this reason.
Biography highlights
- Former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED UK and Deputy Global Editorial Director, WIRED, after sixteen years at the title; cofounder of The Venture Group, an AI-first business operating as a founder accelerator programme.
- Author of the forthcoming Code, Capital, Power: How Big Tech Companies Redefined Markets, Reshaped Global Order and Are Transforming Society in Their Image (2027).
- Chair of Judges, The Orwell Prize for Journalism 2026.
- British Society of Magazine Editors Editor of the Year, Science and Technology, in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2024.
- On-stage interviewer of Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Demis Hassabis, Reid Hoffman, Albert Bourla and Prime Ministers Blair, May and Johnson.
- Speaking credits include the World Economic Forum in Davos, UN AI for Good, Cannes Lions, Web Summit, Vivatech, SXSW, DLD, Founders Forum and the World Governments Summit, plus private leadership formats for McKinsey and BCG.
Biography
The most consequential question for senior leadership over the next decade is no longer whether technology will reshape markets. It is who is doing the reshaping, who is benefiting, and what kind of operating environment that leaves for everyone else. The argument Greg Williams sets out in his forthcoming book Code, Capital, Power is that big technology companies have already redrawn the rules of markets, capital and global order, and that boards now have to lead inside that new geometry.
That work draws on sixteen years at WIRED, where he ran the UK edition for close to a decade and held the role of Deputy Global Editorial Director, with editorial responsibility for teams from Mexico to Japan. He is also cofounder of The Venture Group, an AI-first business operating as a founder accelerator programme.
Access compounds the credibility. Williams has interviewed Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, Demis Hassabis, Reid Hoffman, Albert Bourla and Prime Ministers Blair, May and Johnson, on stage and in print. He has shared programmes with the World Economic Forum in Davos, UN AI for Good, Cannes Lions, Web Summit, Vivatech, SXSW and the World Governments Summit, and has hosted private leadership formats for McKinsey and BCG. The British Society of Magazine Editors named him Editor of the Year for Science and Technology four times, in 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2024, and the Orwell Foundation appointed him Chair of Judges for its 2026 Prize for Journalism, on a panel with Nick Davies, Meenakshi Ravi and Sayeeda Warsi.
For a leadership team, the booking works on two levels. As keynote, he translates AI, cybersecurity and the platform economics shaping global order into decisions a board can act on. As interviewer or moderator, he can hold a complicated panel, ask the sharper question, and keep the conversation honest when a founder, a regulator and a customer are on the same stage.
Key speaking topics
- Artificial intelligence and its impact on business models
- Cybersecurity and digital risk at board level
- Technology and geopolitics
- Innovation and disruption
- Future of work and workforce transformation
- Strategic foresight and trend forecasting
- Leadership in a technology-driven economy
Ideal for
- Boards and executive committees setting AI, data or cybersecurity strategy
- CEO and CIO offsites that need a credible outside read on the technology agenda
- Innovation, strategy and transformation leads briefing their organisation on what is coming
- Industry conferences that need a moderator who can interview founders, regulators and policymakers on the same stage
Audience outcomes
- A sharper filter for separating real technology signal from hype
- A clearer view of the AI, cybersecurity and platform shifts that will hit their sector next
- A forward read on the technology economy shaped by his own argument that a small number of big tech companies are restructuring markets and the global order, not a vendor pitch
- Specific named companies, researchers and regulators to watch
- Better questions to put to their own technology and strategy teams on return
Talks
An in-depth examination of how remote and distributed working models are reshaping productivity, culture, innovation and competitive advantage, and how organisations can optimise new working practices for engagement, resilience and long-term success.
Key takeaways:
- Which new working practices will endure and how to manage virtual teams effectively.
- Why purpose, adaptability and agility must sit at the core of future-ready organisations.
- How to integrate automation, maintain culture, rethink KPIs and build enterprise resilience.
An exploration of the leadership capabilities required to navigate disruption, lead distributed teams and reposition organisations for sustainable growth in rapidly changing operating environments.
Key takeaways:
- Why adaptability and the ability to pivot create strategic advantage.
- How to lead and communicate effectively with distributed workforces built on trust and empathy.
- How to drive innovation, cultural change and new product development in the new era of work.
A strategic overview of the technology, science and societal shifts transforming every industry, and how organisations can respond to disruption by embracing data, software and emerging technologies.
Key takeaways:
- The key trends shaping business, from AI and VR to blockchain and data-driven enterprise.
- Why every organisation is becoming a software business and how external data creates opportunity.
- How mission-driven models and new generations of consumers are reshaping corporate strategy.
A clear-eyed assessment of the vulnerabilities created by digital ubiquity and the emerging threats facing organisations as networks expand and technologies become more interconnected.
Key takeaways:
- The scale and nature of cyber risks from hackers, criminals and state actors.
- How emerging technologies such as wearables and the internet of things increase exposure.
- The future hazards organisations must anticipate, from critical infrastructure to advanced technologies.
An analysis of how geopolitics, regulation and technological competition are fragmenting the global digital landscape and reshaping economic power and organisational strategy.
Key takeaways:
- How geopolitical tensions and regulation are influencing technology ecosystems and global supply chains.
- Why geography has regained strategic importance in a digitally connected world.
- How issues such as data sovereignty, digital currencies, information warfare and AI governance will shape economies and international alignment.
An examination of the shift from shareholder primacy to purpose-led strategy, and how organisations are embedding long-term thinking, meaningful goals and values-driven leadership into their core operations.
Key takeaways:
- Why purpose must move beyond CSR and become central to organisational strategy.
- How climate, inequality, diversity and governance pressures are reshaping corporate priorities.
- How long-term thinking and mission-driven models position organisations for sustainable success.