Politisk risk och politik

Why organisations work with Ernesto Zedillo He has run a major economy through a currency crisis and a peaceful democratic transition, and can speak to macroeconomic decision-making with first-hand authority rather than commentary. He directs Yale’s globalization programme, which gives his reading of trade policy, capital markets and multilateral institutions an analytical base that short-horizon geopolitical speakers cannot match. His service on The Elders, the Group of Thirty and the Global Commission on Drug Policy puts him inside the rooms where international policy is actually debated, not outside them. Twenty years of independent directorships at Citigroup, Alcoa and Procter and Gamble mean he understands how boards translate geopolitical risk into capital allocation, and speaks to corporate audiences in their terms. He is the architect of Progresa, the conditional cash-transfer model later adopted from Brazil to New York City, which gives him a credible track record on social policy design as well as macro policy. Biography highlights President of Mexico, 1994 to 2000, following senior roles as Secretary of Education, Secretary of Economic Programming and the Budget, and Deputy Director of the Central Bank of Mexico. Frederick Iseman ’74 Director of the Program for the Study of Globalization at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs, with professorships in International Economics and Politics and at the Yale School of the Environment. Member of The Elders, the Group of Thirty, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age. Independent Director of Citigroup (since 2010), Alcoa (2002 to present in current form) and Procter and Gamble (2001 to 2019); international advisory board member at BP. Editor of influential volumes including Trade in the 21st Century (2021), The Future of Globalization (Routledge, 2008), Global Warming: Looking Beyond Kyoto (Brookings, 2008) and Reforming the United Nations for Peace and Security (2005); Forbes columnist, 2001 to 2007. Recipient of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom from Fear Award, the Berkeley Medal, Yale’s Wilbur Cross Medal, and honorary degrees from Yale, Harvard and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, among others. Biography Mexico entered 1995 with a collapsing peso, dollar-denominated short-term debt the government could not roll over, and an incoming president six weeks into office. The policy response shaped how emerging-market crises have been handled since. Ernesto Zedillo led that government, and six years later handed power to an opposition candidate in the country’s first democratic transition of the modern era. That experience sits behind the work he has done at Yale since 2002, where he directs the Program for the Study of Globalization at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. The programme has produced a stream of edited volumes on the live questions in trade, climate policy, UN reform and drug policy, with Zedillo as editor and author. His Forbes column ran for six years. His reading of globalization is not theoretical; it is built on governing through one of the defining episodes of the era and staying close to the policy conversation ever since. What makes him useful to corporate audiences is the combination of that academic base with two decades of independent directorships at Citigroup, Alcoa and Procter and Gamble. He has sat on the audit and risk side of multinational boards through the 2008 crisis, the rise of trade friction with China, and the reorganisation of supply chains. He knows how geopolitical analysis translates, or fails to translate, into capital decisions. He continues to serve on The Elders, the Group of Thirty, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s work on planetary health. He was the architect of Progresa, the Mexican conditional cash-transfer programme that Brazil, Colombia and dozens of other governments later adapted. The range matters because the argument he brings to a board or executive audience is not a topic briefing. It is a view of where the international system is heading from someone who has governed inside it, taught it, and helped steer large companies through it. Key speaking topics Globalization and the future of the international trading system Macroeconomic policy and emerging-market risk Geopolitical shifts and multilateral institutions US-Mexico relations and North American economic integration Climate policy and international cooperation Social policy design and conditional cash-transfer programmes Global governance reform Ideal for Board and C-suite audiences weighing country risk, trade exposure and cross-border capital allocation Financial services, industrial and consumer-goods companies with significant emerging-market or Latin American footprints CEO forums, investor conferences and policy gatherings that need a credible read on globalization and geopolitical risk Public sector and multilateral audiences working on trade policy, development finance or social policy design Audience outcomes A sharper read on what the unwinding of the post-1990 trade order means for corporate strategy A direct account of how a government actually makes decisions during a currency and debt crisis, and what that implies for today’s sovereign risk A realistic view of where multilateral institutions still function and where they do not An informed perspective on US-Mexico economic relations and North American supply chain strategy A grounded framework for thinking about social policy design, drawn from the Progresa experience

Why organisations work with Fabrice Pothier He helped architect NATO policy from the inside – including the Readiness Action Plan and Smart Defence – which means he reads alliance decisions not as headlines but as the output of processes he built and operated within. As current pro-bono advisor to President Zelenskyy on Ukraine’s long-term security guarantees, he brings live, first-hand insight into the most consequential European security negotiation of the past decade. Through Rasmussen Global, he advises multinational businesses and sovereign governments in parallel – giving him an unusually precise map of where geopolitical risk meets commercial and operational exposure. He co-founded the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity – working alongside Joe Biden, Michael Chertoff, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen – giving him demonstrable authority on the intersection of democratic stability, technology, and political risk. He publishes strategic analysis through the IISS and is regularly featured in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Politico Europe – his public work is tested against the institutions that sophisticated senior audiences use as benchmarks. Biography highlights CEO of Rasmussen Global, the political consultancy founded by former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen; advises multinational businesses and sovereign governments on geopolitics, European policy, and strategic risk Former NATO Director of Policy Planning (2010-2016) under two successive Secretary Generals; credited with the Readiness Action Plan, the Defence Capacity Building Initiative, and Smart Defence, and with drafting Secretary General speeches for the Munich Security Conference and articles for Foreign Affairs Founding Director of Carnegie Europe, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Brussels centre, which became one of Europe’s leading foreign policy think-tanks Consulting Senior Fellow for Defence Policy and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS); regular contributor to the IISS journal Survival Co-founded the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity alongside Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Michael Chertoff, and Joe Biden Pro-bono advisor to President Zelenskyy on Ukraine’s security guarantees and Euro-Atlantic integration; central to the Kyiv Security Compact, endorsed by G7 and formalised as the Ukraine Compact at the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington Testified before the UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee; featured in Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Politico Europe, and Washington Post; advisory board member, LSE Ideas Transatlantic Programme Biography Fabrice Pothier spent six years at the centre of NATO’s policy architecture as Director of Policy Planning, serving under both Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Jens Stoltenberg. The Readiness Action Plan, the Defence Capacity Building Initiative, and Smart Defence all bear his influence. He also drafted landmark speeches and articles for the Secretary General at the Munich Security Conference and in Foreign Affairs – a role that placed him at the intersection of alliance strategy and its public communication. That operational depth sets him apart from analysts who study alliance dynamics from the outside. He worked on the policy levers directly – advising successive Secretary Generals through NATO’s response to the Libya crisis, the 2014 Ukraine crisis, and a period of fundamental re-evaluation of European security. When he discusses how NATO makes decisions, he is describing a process he ran. Since 2015, he has led Rasmussen Global – the advisory firm founded by Anders Fogh Rasmussen – becoming CEO in 2022. He currently serves as pro-bono advisor to President Zelenskyy on Ukraine’s long-term security guarantees and Euro-Atlantic integration. That role made him central to the Kyiv Security Compact, which became the foundation of a G7 joint declaration at the 2023 Vilnius Summit and was formalised as the Ukraine Compact at the 2024 NATO Summit in Washington. He also co-founded the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity alongside Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Michael Chertoff, and Joe Biden. Before NATO, he founded Carnegie Europe, establishing it as one of Europe’s leading foreign policy think-tanks. He holds a Consulting Senior Fellowship at the IISS, publishes in Survival, and is regularly featured in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Politico Europe. He has testified before the UK Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee and holds an advisory board position at the LSE Ideas Transatlantic Programme. Key speaking topics European security and defence architecture NATO strategy and transatlantic relations Geopolitical risk and corporate strategy The Russia-Ukraine war and Euro-Atlantic integration Election integrity, disinformation, and democratic resilience Scenario planning for geopolitical disruption EU politics and the reshaping of the European order Ideal for Boards and C-suites of multinationals with European or transatlantic market exposure Chief Risk Officers, Chief Strategy Officers, and public affairs leaders in global organisations Government, defence, and public policy conferences on European security and alliance strategy Financial and professional services firms with exposure to geopolitical risk Audience outcomes A working understanding of NATO’s decision-making architecture and how alliance dynamics translate into business and political risk Clarity on the trajectory of the Russia-Ukraine war and its medium-term implications for European security and market conditions A framework for distinguishing high-signal geopolitical risk from noise when making strategic investment or operational decisions Context on the structural state of transatlantic relations and how shifts in US-European alignment affect organisations operating across both Practical insight into the threat landscape around election interference and disinformation, and what democratic resilience means for organisations operating in politically volatile environments

Why organisations work with Fatima Bhutto New Kings of the World (Columbia Global Reports, 2019) is a named, published, field-reported analysis of how non-Western cultural industries are displacing American soft power globally, giving leaders a specific, documented argument rather than a trend observation, backed by original reporting across three continents. Her personal biography; granddaughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first democratically elected prime minister, and daughter of parliamentarian Murtaza Bhutto, who was killed by police in 1996, means her analysis of democratic fragility, political violence, and state power comes from inside those systems, not from a research library. As host of Reframe on Al Jazeera, she has conducted on-record interviews with heads of state and senior political figures, including former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, placing her among interlocutors of consequence rather than commentators at a remove. Her track record across the Financial Times, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Foreign Policy, and Granta, as well as her current column at Zeteo gives her geopolitical analysis a verifiable, editorially scrutinised body of work that self-published commentary cannot replicate. Selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2012 (one of 192 from 59 countries), she holds credibility simultaneously in Global South contexts and at the international forums where Western business leaders set agendas; a pairing that is genuinely rare on the geopolitics circuit. Biography highlights Author of seven books published by Oxford University Press, Jonathan Cape, Penguin, Columbia Global Reports, and Simon & Schuster, spanning poetry, memoir, fiction, and narrative reportage New Kings of the World (Columbia Global Reports, 2019) received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and was reviewed by the Financial Times as «razor sharp»; described by Shelf Awareness as a «starred» account of a fundamental shift in global pop culture The Shadow of the Crescent Moon (Penguin, 2013) longlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction; Songs of Blood and Sword (Jonathan Cape, 2010) a critically acclaimed memoir of Pakistani politics and political violence Host of Reframe on Al Jazeera (2024-2025), interviewing senior political figures including former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin World Economic Forum Young Global Leader (2012), one of 192 from 59 countries Writing published in the Financial Times, The Guardian, Granta, The New Statesman, and Foreign Policy; current columnist for Zeteo; BA from Barnard/Columbia University, MA in South Asian Government and Politics from SOAS Biography Bollywood is the world’s largest film industry by output. Turkish dizi, a form of serialised drama, reaches 200 million viewers across 43 countries. South Korean K-pop commands fan communities on six continents. Fatima Bhutto’s New Kings of the World (Columbia Global Reports, 2019) was among the first serious analyses to document what this redistribution of cultural power means for the assumptions that sit beneath most global business strategy. Her argument is specific: American soft power was not dismantled by geopolitical rivals, but outpaced by cultural industries that offered billions of consumers something Hollywood could not; familiarity, traditional values inside modern formats, and aspirational content that matched their actual self-image. The book drew on original reporting, exclusive interviews with figures including Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, and field research across India, Turkey, and South Korea. The Financial Times called it «razor sharp.» Kirkus gave it a starred review. Fatima came to this argument through a life lived inside the geographies that Western strategy tends to flatten into abstractions. Born in Kabul and raised between Damascus and Karachi, she holds an MA in South Asian Government and Politics from SOAS and has reported from Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Cuba, and Israel. Her personal biography also gives her analysis of political risk a dimension that institutional research rarely carries. She is the granddaughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s first democratically elected prime minister, executed in 1979. Her father, Murtaza Bhutto, was an elected parliamentarian killed by police in Karachi in 1996. Her memoir Songs of Blood and Sword (Jonathan Cape, 2010) is as much a document of democratic fragility and state violence as it is a personal narrative. Her recent work has widened the frame. As host of Reframe on Al Jazeera (2024-2025), she has interviewed heads of state and senior political figures on record, including former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. Her writing appears in the Financial Times, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Granta, and Foreign Policy; she is a current columnist for Zeteo. Her 2026 memoir The Hour of the Wolf, published by Simon & Schuster, extends her work on power, coercion, and resilience into the personal register. Key speaking topics Western soft power and the rise of non-Western cultural industries Geopolitics of the Global South Democracy, political violence, and state fragility Women’s leadership in contested political environments Cultural identity in a multipolar world Press freedom and the politics of narrative South Asia and the Middle East Ideal for Senior leadership teams and boards navigating global market expansion in South Asia, the Middle East, and emerging economies Risk and strategy functions managing political instability, fragile democracies, and governance uncertainty in developing markets CHROs and DEI leads seeking perspectives on women’s leadership and voice from outside the Western corporate tradition International relations, communications, and policy teams at multinationals with significant exposure to the Global South Audience outcomes A specific, field-reported framework for understanding how cultural power has redistributed away from the West and what this means for where aspiration and consumer loyalty are actually formed A sharper reading of identity, aspiration, and brand relevance in South Asian, Middle Eastern, and emerging market contexts A more precise vocabulary for assessing political risk in environments where Western governance assumptions do not apply A first-hand account of navigating political violence, state failure, and democratic collapse that reframes organisational resilience beyond its corporate usage A challenge to the premise that Western cultural norms remain the universal benchmark for influence in global markets

Why organisations work with Federica Mogherini Five years as the EU’s most senior diplomat, chairing the Foreign Affairs Council and running the European External Action Service across the Crimea sanctions, the Iran deal, Brexit, the Trump transatlantic shift and the early phase of EU-China strategic recalibration. As the EU High Representative, she coordinated and chaired the multilateral negotiations that produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran’s nuclear programme, then chaired its Joint Commission, the operational reference point for what a complex multilateral agreement looks like in practice. Author of the 2016 EU Global Strategy, Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe, the document that frames how the European Union still describes its place in the world and its relationship with the United States, China and its neighbourhood. A former national foreign minister and former NATO Parliamentary Assembly delegate, which means she can speak with equal credibility on EU institutional dynamics and on member-state and alliance politics. Biography highlights High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, 2014 to 2019. Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, 2014, in the Renzi government. Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 2008 to 2014, and head of the Italian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Coordinator and chair of the E3+3 negotiations that produced the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran, finalised July 2015 and endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement, 2020 to 2021. Holds honorary doctorates from the University of Tampere, the University of Surrey and the University of Tirana, and has been recognised with the Hessian Peace Prize, the Kaiser Otto Prize for European unity, and Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, Second Class. Biography For five years from November 2014, every formal EU position on Iran, Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, the Western Balkans and the transatlantic relationship was coordinated through one office. Federica Mogherini ran it. As High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, she chaired the Foreign Affairs Council, led the European External Action Service and represented the Union at the United Nations, NATO and the G7. The defining file of that tenure was Iran. After twelve years of EU-led negotiation, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was finalised in July 2015 and endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. Mogherini then chaired its Joint Commission, the body responsible for monitoring implementation, including through the Trump administration’s withdrawal in 2018. Alongside that, she developed and launched the 2016 EU Global Strategy, Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe, the framework that still shapes how Brussels describes its strategic interests in a multipolar order. Before the Commission role, she had served as Italian Foreign Minister in 2014 and as a member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies from 2008, including as head of the Italian delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. That sequence gives her the unusual range of having sat as a national minister, an EU vice-president, and a transatlantic security parliamentarian inside one career. What she offers serious audiences is the reading you get from someone who chaired the room: how decisions on Russia, Iran, China and the United States are actually made in European capitals and at the Berlaymont, and where the next pressure points sit for organisations operating across those geographies. Key speaking topics European foreign and security policy Transatlantic relations and the future of US-EU cooperation Iran, the Middle East and nuclear diplomacy Multilateralism and the rules-based international order The European Union’s role in a multipolar world Migration, displacement and human rights Women’s leadership in global affairs Ideal for Boards and executive committees scoping geopolitical exposure across Europe, the Middle East and the transatlantic corridor. Government affairs, public policy and sustainability functions tracking EU regulatory and foreign-policy direction. Financial institutions and energy, defence and industrial businesses with sanctions, Iran or Russia exposure. Senior leadership audiences at multilateral institutions, foundations and NGOs operating on conflict, migration or displacement files. Audience outcomes A direct reading of how European foreign and security decisions are taken, from someone who chaired the Foreign Affairs Council. A clearer sense of where the EU, the United States and China are heading on the strategic files that shape international business. An informed view of the Iran file and the wider Middle East from the lead EU negotiator of the JCPOA. A grounded perspective on the limits and uses of multilateral diplomacy in a fracturing order. Confidence that the briefing reflects how the institutions actually operate, not commentary from the outside.

Why organisations work with Fiona Armstrong Forty years of live broadcast experience means autocue, running-order changes and long awards formats hold no surprise. Organisers typically notice that reliability only after being burned by the alternative. Former ITN newscaster on News at Ten and News at 5:40, giving her automatic standing in front of senior business audiences who still recognise a national news face. As His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries, the King’s personal representative in the region, she brings genuine ceremonial weight to awards evenings, civic occasions and royal-linked events. Former foreign correspondent who has reported from Uganda on AIDS orphans, Cambodia on landmine clearance and West Africa with the Mercy Ships, able to moderate panels on international development from direct field experience rather than briefing notes. Holds a history doctorate from the University of Strathclyde and an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow, which suits academic, cultural and heritage hosting roles where a celebrity presenter would feel out of place. Biography highlights Former ITN national newscaster, presenter of News at Ten and News at 5:45/5:40; launch team on GMTV. Presenter on the BBC News Channel from 2010; current presenter of Border Life and Lookaround for ITV Border. Outstanding Contribution award, Royal Television Society North East and Border Awards, 2017. His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries since 2016; royal representative across Nithsdale, Annandale and Eskdale. Honorary Doctorate, University of Glasgow; Honorary Fellowship, University of Cumbria; board member, University of Central Lancashire. Past President of the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland; Chairwoman of the Clan Armstrong Trust; author of two fishing books and two cookbooks. Biography A long awards ceremony is one of the least forgiving stages in corporate life. Twenty prizes, tight timings, a room that cooled off an hour ago, and a single person at the lectern expected to keep it moving. Fiona Armstrong has hosted enough of them to know why organisers come back. She spent the late 1980s and early 1990s at ITN, presenting News at Ten and the 5:40 bulletin when those programmes still set the national news agenda. She covered the Lockerbie air disaster and filed a series on AIDS orphans from Uganda. Later assignments took her to Cambodia for landmine clearance and to West Africa with the Mercy Ships. The BBC News Channel brought her back as a network presenter in 2010; ITV Border has retained her in current affairs through Lookaround and Border Life. The Royal Television Society North East and Border gave her its Outstanding Contribution award in 2017, recognising a career closely associated with Border Television. The University of Glasgow has granted her an honorary doctorate; the University of Cumbria elected her an honorary fellow in 2018. She has served as His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries since 2016, representing the Crown across Nithsdale, Annandale and Eskdale. Alongside the newsroom work, she has written two fishing books, two cookbooks, and more than twenty films on Scottish clan history. She chairs the Clan Armstrong Trust, was President of the Royal Highland Show in 2020, and sits on the board of the University of Central Lancashire. Corporate clients typically book her to host awards evenings or moderate senior panels. Specialist subject matter, from international reporting to Scottish heritage and rural affairs, is available when a brief calls for it. Key speaking topics Event hosting and awards presentation Panel moderation and conference chairing Broadcast journalism and live news presentation International humanitarian and field reporting Scottish clan history and Borders heritage Civic leadership and royal representation Fly-fishing and rural life Ideal for Corporate awards organisers and event leads booking an experienced on-stage host Conference chairs and event directors are hiring a senior-panel moderator Civic, heritage and ceremonial occasions requiring a royal representative or recognised public service figure Cultural, agricultural and rural-sector organisations in Scotland and the Borders region Audience outcomes An evening kept on schedule, with prize categories moved at pace and all sponsors and winners given their due on stage. Panel conversations that stay on the brief, with questions that push participants past prepared answers without derailing the session. Inside accounts of covering major international stories, including Lockerbie, AIDS orphans in Africa and landmine clearance in Cambodia. Context on Scottish cultural life and clan history delivered with the specificity of a working historian, not a celebrity interest.

Why organisations work with Francis Fukuyama His thesis on political decay gives boards a usable lens for what is actually weakening in Western democracies, beyond the daily news cycle. He has direct policy experience from the US State Department and RAND, so the analysis lands as institutional reading, not commentary. The End of History and the Last Man has appeared in over twenty foreign editions and remains the reference point for debates on liberal democracy, which makes him a credible keynote for global audiences. As Mosbacher Director of Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, he is running a live research programme on the questions leaders are asking about. Few speakers can connect populism, identity politics, and geopolitical realignment inside a single coherent framework grounded in thirty years of published work. Biography highlights Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University. Mosbacher Director, Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law; Director, Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy, Stanford. Author of The End of History and the Last Man, The Origins of Political Order, Political Order and Political Decay, Trust, Identity, and Liberalism and Its Discontents. Former Policy Planning Staff, US Department of State; former Political Science Department, RAND Corporation. Recipient of the 2024 Fred Riggs Award for Lifetime Achievement in International and Comparative Public Administration. Chair of the editorial board of American Purpose; columnist of Frankly Fukuyama on Substack. Board member at RAND, Freedom House, and the Volcker Alliance; fellow of the National Academy for Public Administration; member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Biography The institutions that underwrite Western market economies were built to be predictable. They are now a source of risk. Francis Fukuyama has spent three decades tracing why, and the work is the reason serious leaders bring him into strategic conversations. His 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man argued that liberal democracy paired with market economies would become the governing template for modern societies. The argument was widely misread as triumphalism. The later work, The Origins of Political Order and Political Order and Political Decay, sets out a far more demanding account of how states, rule of law, and accountable government hold together, and how they come apart. From Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute, where he is the Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow and Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, he now runs a live research programme on governance and institutional quality. His recent books Identity and Liberalism and Its Discontents take the framework into the territory boards actually need to understand: populism, identity politics, the sources of democratic backsliding, and what a defensible liberalism looks like under pressure from both flanks. The credibility is not only academic. He served on the Policy Planning Staff at the US State Department and at RAND, sits on the boards of RAND, Freedom House, and the Volcker Alliance, and in 2024 received the Fred Riggs Award for Lifetime Achievement in International and Comparative Public Administration. That record is why a senior leadership team reading his analysis on the trajectory of a democracy can treat it as institutional judgement, not punditry. Key speaking topics Liberal democracy and political order Geopolitical realignment and US-China competition Populism, identity politics, and democratic backsliding Governance, state capacity, and institutional quality Rule of law and economic development The long-term outlook for the liberal international order Technology, platform power, and democratic institutions Ideal for Boards and executive committees setting long-horizon strategy across the US, Europe, and Asia. Chief strategy officers, chief risk officers, and heads of government affairs who need political risk framed at an institutional level. Investor and LP audiences building views on sovereign, regulatory, and geopolitical exposure. Public-sector leadership programmes, foreign ministries, and multilateral institutions working on governance reform. Audience outcomes A clearer reading of which pressures on liberal democracies are cyclical and which are structural. A framework for thinking about state capacity, rule of law, and accountability as distinct variables when assessing country risk. A more precise account of how populism and identity politics translate into policy volatility. A sharper view of the US-China competition beyond the usual trade and technology headlines. Vocabulary and concepts leaders can carry back into strategy discussions with their own teams.

Why organisations work with Frank Gardner Direct line into the security and intelligence conversation. Gardner is the BBC’s Security Correspondent, with three decades of sourced reporting across the Middle East, counter-terrorism and state conflict, and he brings that network into the room. Arabic fluency and a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies give him a reading of the region that most Western commentators cannot match, particularly on Gulf politics, jihadist movements and Iran. First-hand authority on the personal cost of political violence. He was shot six times by al-Qaeda gunmen in Riyadh in 2004 and returned to full-time reporting in 2005; when he speaks about risk, resilience and continuing to operate, it is from lived experience. A published thriller novelist whose Luke Carlton series (Crisis, Ultimatum, Outbreak, Invasion, Ballistic, published by Bantam and Penguin) is built on real tradecraft, which makes him unusually effective at making intelligence work comprehensible to non-specialist audiences. Credibility signals that serious buyers recognise: OBE for services to journalism, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, honorary doctorates from five UK universities, the McWhirter Award for Bravery, Spain’s El Mundo Prize and the UAE’s Zayed Medal. Biography highlights BBC Security Correspondent; previously the BBC’s first full-time Gulf correspondent (1997) and BBC Middle East correspondent based in Cairo (from 1999). Author of Blood and Sand (Bantam, 2006), a Sunday Times top-three bestseller covering 25 years of reporting from the Middle East, and Far Horizons. Author of the Luke Carlton thriller series, featuring a former SBS officer turned MI6 operative: Crisis, Ultimatum, Outbreak, Invasion and Ballistic, published by Bantam and Penguin. Shot and seriously wounded by al-Qaeda gunmen in Riyadh in 2004; returned to full-time BBC reporting in 2005. OBE (2005) for services to journalism. Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Honorary doctorates of law from the University of Nottingham, Staffordshire University, the University of Exeter, the University of East Anglia and the Open University. Awards: McWhirter Award for Bravery, El Mundo Prize for International Journalism (Spain), Zayed Medal for Journalism (UAE), UK Press Gazette Person of the Year. Biography The security environment that boards now have to plan against, terrorism, state conflict, energy disruption, cyber, looks less like a set of discrete issues and more like a single interconnected risk map. Reading that map is the work. For nearly three decades, Frank Gardner has done it in public, on air, for the BBC. As the BBC’s Security Correspondent, he has covered the War on Terror since 2002, having previously served as the corporation’s first full-time Gulf correspondent and then as Middle East correspondent based in Cairo. A fluent Arabic speaker with a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies, he reports from inside the region rather than about it, with sourcing across security services, militaries and political leadership. That authority was sharpened by events. In June 2004, reporting from the Al-Suwaidi district of Riyadh, he was shot six times by al-Qaeda gunmen; his colleague, cameraman Simon Cumbers, was killed. After fourteen operations and seven months in hospital, Gardner returned to full-time BBC reporting in 2005 and has covered every major terrorism and security story since. He was appointed OBE that year for services to journalism. His published work tracks the same terrain from two angles. Blood and Sand, a Sunday Times top-three bestseller, is the non-fiction record of a reporting career built in the Middle East. The Luke Carlton thrillers, Crisis, Ultimatum, Outbreak, Invasion and Ballistic, use the mechanics of real intelligence tradecraft to dramatise the threats he covers on air, and have made him one of the few security commentators equally at home briefing a board and a mass readership. Key speaking topics Geopolitical and security risk Terrorism and counter-terrorism The Middle East and the Gulf Intelligence, espionage and tradecraft Iran, Saudi Arabia and Gulf politics Resilience after serious adversity Global risk and business decision-making Ideal for Boards and executive committees setting strategy against geopolitical and security exposure Chief Risk Officers, Chief Security Officers and Heads of Corporate Security Leadership teams in energy, financial services, defence, aviation and critical infrastructure with Middle East or Gulf operations Annual conferences, client events and internal leadership offsites where a credible read of the threat landscape is the main ask Audience outcomes A working read of the current geopolitical and terrorism threat map, not a headline recap Sharper understanding of Middle East and Gulf dynamics, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and jihadist movements, from someone who reports the region in Arabic A sense of how intelligence services actually work, and what that means for corporate security, travel risk and crisis response A human account of surviving a near-fatal attack and continuing to operate at the top of a demanding profession

Why organisations work with Fraser Nelson Fifteen years editing The Spectator, the longest-running weekly in the English language, gives him a working memory of Westminster that most commentators do not have. He chairs panels and interviews senior figures for a living, which shows up on a corporate stage as pace, real questions, and genuine pushback rather than a scripted Q and A. He has argued the centre-right case on welfare, tax and growth in print and on Channel 4 Dispatches, so audiences that disagree with him still get a coherent argument rather than a talking-points loop. Sits on the board of the Centre for Policy Studies and the advisory board of the Centre for Social Justice, which keeps him close to the policy process leaders are trying to read. Won the British Press Award for Political Journalist of the Year in 2013 and Columnist of the Year at the 2025 British Journalism Awards, a twelve-year span that speaks to durability rather than a moment. Biography highlights Editor of The Spectator, 2009 to 2024. Columnist for The Times; previously a Daily Telegraph columnist for thirteen years. British Press Award, Political Journalist of the Year, 2013. Columnist of the Year, British Journalism Awards, 2025. BSME Editor of the Year (current affairs) in 2013, 2021 and 2023. Board member, Centre for Policy Studies; advisory board, Centre for Social Justice. Presenter of Channel 4 Dispatches documentaries including How The Rich Get Richer (2014) and a 2024 Wincott-Award-winning investigation into Britain’s sickness-benefits system. Biography British political reporting runs on access, and access runs on trust built over years. Fraser Nelson spent fifteen of those years editing The Spectator, from 2009 to 2024, during which the magazine’s subscriptions roughly doubled while the wider weekly market shrank. That job puts an editor on first-name terms with every Prime Minister, Chancellor and opposition leader of the period. Before The Spectator he covered business at The Times, then ran Scottish politics for The Scotsman. He now writes a weekly column for The Times, after thirteen years at the Daily Telegraph. The awards track records the endurance rather than the moment: Political Journalist of the Year at the 2013 British Press Awards, Editors’ Editor of the Year in the same year, BSME current-affairs editor of the year in 2021 and 2023, and Columnist of the Year at the 2025 British Journalism Awards. His policy work sits on the board of the Centre for Policy Studies, where he delivered the 2009 Keith Joseph Lecture, and on the advisory board of the Centre for Social Justice. That work has produced two Channel 4 Dispatches documentaries, including How The Rich Get Richer in 2014 and a 2024 investigation into Britain’s sickness-benefits system that won a Wincott Award. On stage he is most often used as a moderator and interviewer of senior figures, where the job is to pull something useful out of a Chancellor or a Cabinet minister in thirty minutes in front of a corporate audience. For clients who want the content rather than the craft, he delivers a sharp read on UK politics, economic policy, and the welfare reform debate he has argued from the centre-right for two decades. Key speaking topics UK politics and Westminster decision-making British economic policy and the case for reform Welfare, work and the long-term fiscal picture The state of British journalism and media Brexit and its unfinished consequences Panel moderation and on-stage interviews Ideal for Boards and investment committees making UK-exposed capital and hiring decisions Annual conferences that want a credible moderator for a minister, regulator or CEO panel Partner and client dinners where the brief is a half-hour read of the political year Public affairs and policy teams inside UK-regulated sectors briefing senior leadership Audience outcomes A clearer read on which Westminster signals are durable and which are noise A centre-right argument on tax, welfare and growth that a mixed room can engage with A sense of how Treasury, Number 10 and the opposition actually make decisions For moderated sessions, a sharper interview of the senior guest than the room expected

Why organisations work with Gavin Esler Four decades of frontline political reporting, including twelve years presenting Newsnight and several as BBC Chief North America Correspondent in Washington, give him a working feel for how Westminster and US politics actually behave under stress. His three political books (How Britain Ends, Brexit Without the Bullshit, Britain Is Better Than This) make a coherent argument about constitutional drift, English nationalism and institutional decay that has shaped serious debate about the UK’s direction. A Sony Gold Award and a Royal Television Society award signal that his work meets the standard of named broadcast bodies, not just bureau claims. Ten years as Chancellor of the University of Kent gave him extensive experience chairing formal occasions and speaking to large mixed audiences, which carries through to moderation and awards hosting. He is one of the few broadcasters who can move between a geopolitical keynote, a board Q and A on US politics, and a polished on-stage interview with a chief executive in the same brief. Biography highlights Main presenter of BBC Two’s Newsnight, January 2003 to January 2014. BBC Chief North America Correspondent, Washington DC, covering the Bush and Clinton administrations. Presenter of Dateline London on BBC News and BBC World News until 2017. Sixth Chancellor of the University of Kent, July 2014 to January 2024. Sony Gold Award for the BBC Radio 4 documentary Letters from Guantanamo, and a Royal Television Society award for foreign reporting. Author of Lessons from the Top (Profile Books, 2012), How Britain Ends (2021), Brexit Without the Bullshit and Britain Is Better Than This (2023). Biography Most political analysis on conference stages still treats Westminster and Washington as two separate beats. The interesting question is what happens when they are read as one continuous story about fraying constitutional settlements, contested legitimacy, and the strain these place on business planning. That is the territory Gavin Esler has worked in for four decades. He presented BBC Two’s Newsnight from 2003 to 2014, and before that was BBC Chief North America Correspondent in Washington, shaping the corporation’s US coverage through the first Bush and Clinton administrations. He went on to front Dateline London on BBC News and BBC World News, bringing foreign correspondents into weekly argument about events in their own capitals. His three political books run a consistent thread. How Britain Ends argues that English nationalism, not Scottish independence, is the force most likely to break the British union. Britain Is Better Than This reads the expenses scandal, Brexit, Partygate and the Truss premiership as symptoms of institutional decay rather than isolated failures. Lessons from the Top, written earlier, distils three decades of interviewing figures from Bill Clinton to senior military commanders into a framework for how leaders use story to hold legitimacy. He served ten years as Chancellor of the University of Kent, conferring degrees and chairing formal university occasions through a period of significant change in UK higher education. His Sony Gold Award for Letters from Guantanamo and his Royal Television Society award sit alongside that body of reporting and writing as evidence that his judgement has been tested in public for longer than most commentators now working. Key speaking topics UK politics and constitutional change Brexit and its long tail US politics and the transatlantic relationship Geopolitical risk for boards and investors Trust, disinformation and the media Leadership and storytelling On-stage interviewing and moderation Ideal for Board and executive committee sessions pricing UK and US political risk into three-year strategy. Public affairs, legal and financial services conferences needing a named political analyst rather than a generalist keynote. Awards ceremonies, annual dinners and flagship conferences that need a senior broadcaster as host, interviewer or moderator. Leadership forums examining how institutional trust erodes and how communication holds or loses legitimacy. Audience outcomes A sharper read of where UK constitutional politics is heading and what would have to be true for different outcomes. A working sense of how US political cycles translate into risk for European businesses and investors. A more concrete view of how disinformation and declining institutional trust affect corporate reputation and policy environments. A framework for how leaders use narrative to sustain authority, drawn from his interviews with heads of state and senior executives.

Why organisations work with Geoff Cutmore He has interviewed every president of the European Central Bank and the last three Bank of England governors, which means a central banker on his panel will recognise the questioning standard and answer accordingly. He moderated the Global Economic Outlook panel and other plenaries at the World Economic Forum in Davos for more than twenty years, including a 2022 session with Kristalina Georgieva, Jane Fraser, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, and David Rubenstein. His 2014 panel with Vladimir Putin at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which Putin closed by calling him a “scary person” who kept the conversation businesslike, is on the record as evidence of his composure with hostile principals. He authored New Market Mavericks (Wiley, 2004), a book of interviews with leading market traders, giving him a working vocabulary for the buy side as well as the policy desk. A decade based in Hong Kong with CNBC Asia before Europe gives him fluency on Boao, China Development Forum, and the Asia leg of any global economic story. Biography highlights Anchor of Squawk Box Europe on CNBC from 1999 to June 2023, after a thirty-year career across CNBC Asia and CNBC Europe. Author of New Market Mavericks, published by Wiley in 2004. Moderator of the Global Economic Outlook and other plenary sessions at the World Economic Forum in Davos for more than twenty years. Conducted on-stage interviews with Vladimir Putin at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Tony Blair, John Major, Gerhard Schroeder, and George Soros. Regular moderator at IMF and World Bank annual meetings, the Boao Forum, the China Development Forum, and United Nations Climate Change conferences. Contributor to the World Economic Forum Agenda. Biography Squawk Box Europe is where European institutional money starts its day, and from 1999 until June 2023 the person setting that agenda was Geoff Cutmore. Over three decades at CNBC, first in Hong Kong with CNBC Asia and then in Europe, he built the interviewing range that takes a guest from rate expectations to sanctions exposure to a board-level cash question without losing the room. The list of principals he has questioned on air or on stage is the working evidence. Every president of the European Central Bank. The last three governors of the Bank of England. US Treasury secretaries, IMF and World Bank heads, Tony Blair, John Major, Gerhard Schroeder, George Soros. In 2014 he chaired a ninety-minute panel with Vladimir Putin at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which closed with Putin calling him a “scary person” who had kept the exchange businesslike. That is the kind of credit only earned by holding a difficult line in front of a hostile principal. He has moderated the Global Economic Outlook panel and other plenaries at the World Economic Forum in Davos for more than twenty years, including the 2022 session with Kristalina Georgieva, Jane Fraser, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, and David Rubenstein. He also chairs sessions at the IMF and World Bank annual meetings, the Boao Forum, the China Development Forum, and United Nations climate conferences. His book New Market Mavericks, published by Wiley in 2004, collects interviews with leading traders and gives him a working second language for the buy side. What an organisation gets when it puts him on stage is a chair who has already had the conversation with the person sitting next to him, usually more than once, and who can move the panel through monetary policy, geopolitics, and corporate strategy without giving up the line of argument. Key speaking topics Global economic outlook and central bank policy Geopolitical risk and the world order Financial markets and investor strategy Energy transition and climate policy China and the Asia growth story Conference and panel moderation Senior executive interviews Ideal for Boards and investment committees commissioning a moderated session on the macro and geopolitical outlook CFO, treasury, and capital markets audiences requiring a chair who can question central bankers and policymakers on equal terms Global summits and annual conferences with multi-principal plenary panels on economy, energy, or geopolitics C-suite client events for asset managers, banks, and professional services firms Audience outcomes A clearer read on the current macro, monetary, and geopolitical picture from the principals shaping it, drawn out in real time rather than rehearsed. A session that holds shape across competing speakers, with the chair keeping the argument moving and the audience oriented. Specific named answers from policymakers and CEOs on the questions a senior audience actually has, not the questions a moderator has been briefed to ask. A conversation calibrated to the room, whether that is a Davos plenary, an investor day, or a board offsite.

Why organisations work with George Papandreou He ran a G20 economy through the most acute phase of the eurozone crisis. His account of negotiating with the IMF, ECB and European Commission is operational, not theoretical. He has held the two roles that shape Greek and European foreign policy, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, giving him an unusual horizontal view of how European institutions actually decide. As President of the Socialist International for 16 years, he built and maintained relationships with heads of government across more than a hundred parties worldwide, which informs how he reads political risk outside Europe. His current Council of Europe role as General Rapporteur on Democracy puts him inside the live work on democratic backsliding across 46 member states, not commenting on it from outside. He brings a specific, named thesis on the eurozone, that the architecture is unfinished and that the political legitimacy of monetary union is the real binding constraint, and is willing to argue it on the record. Biography highlights Prime Minister of Greece, October 2009 to November 2011, through the first sovereign debt rescue inside the euro area. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, 1999 to 2004, the period of the Greek-Turkish diplomatic opening. President of the Socialist International, 2006 to 2022; now President Emeritus. General Rapporteur on Democracy, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, with PACE adopting his June 2024 report on participatory and deliberative democracy. Fellow, Harvard University’s Center for International Affairs (1992 to 1993) and Institute of Politics (Fall 2012); led the IOP study group “(Re)designing Europe”. Grand Cross decorations from Germany, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Finland and Sweden; TED Global 2013 speaker on democratic deficit and trust. Biography Greece reached the edge of default inside the euro in 2010. The government that called the IMF was led by George Papandreou, who took office in October 2009 with a public finance hole that nobody on the European side had priced in. The decisions made in the following 24 months, on austerity, on bondholder participation, on whether the eurozone would let a member state fail, shaped a decade of European economic policy. Papandreou had reached that chair through a long political career. He had been Foreign Minister from 1999 to 2004, the period associated with the Greek-Turkish rapprochement, and President of PASOK from 2004. From 2006 to 2022 he was President of the Socialist International, which gave him direct working relationships with heads of government and party leaders across more than a hundred countries. His current work is at the Council of Europe, where he is General Rapporteur on Democracy for the Parliamentary Assembly. In June 2024 PACE adopted his report calling on member states to strengthen participatory and deliberative processes, a substantive technical agenda rather than rhetorical concern about democratic decline. He has paired this with academic work at Harvard, including the Institute of Politics study group “(Re)designing Europe”, and earlier as a Fellow at the Center for International Affairs. For boards and executive audiences, the value is specificity. He can describe how the Eurogroup made decisions in the early hours of a Monday morning, why the political economy of monetary union remains the binding constraint on European integration, and how participatory democratic reforms now under negotiation will change the regulatory environment that companies face across Europe. Key speaking topics The eurozone, sovereign debt and the unfinished architecture of monetary union European political risk and the future of European integration Democratic backsliding and institutional reform in Europe Greece, Turkey and the eastern Mediterranean Crisis leadership at the level of national government Participatory and deliberative democracy Global governance and multilateral cooperation Ideal for Boards and executive committees with significant European exposure assessing political and sovereign risk Heads of public affairs and government relations working on EU institutional reform Investor audiences and capital allocators with euro area sovereign and equity positions Foreign policy and security forums focused on the eastern Mediterranean and Europe’s neighbourhood Audience outcomes A first-hand account of how a sovereign debt rescue inside the euro area was actually negotiated A reading of the political constraints that still sit underneath the euro and what could reopen them A view of which European democracies are most vulnerable to institutional erosion and why A clearer sense of how Council of Europe and EU-level democratic reforms will shape the operating environment A working framework for thinking about the link between economic shock, political legitimacy and policy

Why organisations work with Gina Miller She has personally tested the limits of UK executive power in court, twice, and can speak about constitutional risk with first-hand authority rather than as a commentator. Her financial services work through SCM Direct and the True and Fair Campaign gives her a working operator’s view of regulation, fees, disclosure, and ESG claims, not a policy abstraction. She brings a credible read on the political conditions that shape regulation in the UK, including how parties form, how reform agendas are built, and where the system is fragile. She speaks from sustained personal exposure to public hostility and threat, which gives her a serious frame on resilience and on the personal cost of institutional accountability. Biography highlights Lead claimant in R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5, the case that required parliamentary authorisation to trigger Article 50. Lead claimant in R (Miller) v The Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41, the prorogation case decided unanimously by eleven Supreme Court justices. Co-founder of SCM Direct, an investment management firm launched in 2009, and co-founder of the True and Fair Campaign in 2012. Founder and leader of the True and Fair Party, launched January 2022. Author of Rise: Life Lessons in Speaking Out, Standing Tall and Leading the Way (Canongate, 2018), co-written with Elizabeth Day. Global Ambassador for Peace, The Tutu Foundation UK; recipient of the Harper’s Bazaar Campaigner of the Year 2018 and Vanity Fair Challenger Award 2021. Biography The two Miller cases sit at the centre of modern UK constitutional law. The first, decided by the Supreme Court in 2017, required parliamentary authorisation before the government could trigger Article 50. The second, decided unanimously by eleven justices in 2019, found the prorogation of Parliament unlawful. Both cases were brought by Gina Miller as lead claimant. That record gives her an unusual vantage point on political risk. She has watched executive power, parliamentary sovereignty and judicial review meet under live conditions, and she has been on the receiving end of the political and personal consequences. For boards thinking about regulatory exposure, lobbying conduct, and the durability of the institutions they rely on, her perspective is operational rather than theoretical. Her commercial career runs in parallel. With Alan Miller, she co-founded SCM Direct in 2009 and the True and Fair Campaign in 2012, pressing the investment industry on hidden fees, closet index tracking and, more recently, greenwashing in ESG products. In January 2022 she launched the True and Fair Party, built around a written constitution, parliamentary accountability and reform of how public money is spent. She is the author of Rise, published by Canongate in 2018 and co-written with Elizabeth Day, and serves as Global Ambassador for Peace with The Tutu Foundation UK. Awards include Harper’s Bazaar Campaigner of the Year 2018, PSA Political Campaigner of the Year 2017, and the Vanity Fair Challenger Award 2021. Key speaking topics UK constitutional law and parliamentary sovereignty Political and regulatory risk for boards Financial services reform and investor protection Transparency in fees, fund disclosure and ESG claims Trust, accountability and the conduct of public office Resilience under sustained public hostility Women, leadership and visibility in public life Ideal for Boards and risk committees stress-testing exposure to political, regulatory and constitutional change Asset managers, pension trustees and financial services leaders facing disclosure and ESG scrutiny General counsel and public affairs leads tracking the boundary between executive action and parliamentary process Leadership and women’s network audiences interested in serious accounts of public exposure and recovery Audience outcomes A clearer read on how UK constitutional rules actually constrain executive decisions, and where they do not A working sense of how transparency, fees and ESG claims are being tested by regulators and campaigners A direct account of what it costs personally to challenge institutional power, and what it teaches about resilience A sharper view of how reform agendas form, gain traction or fail in UK political life