Political Risk & Policy speakers

Why organisations work with Samuel Kasumu He led the cross-government vaccine confidence programme during COVID-19. As Special Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he worked with vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi to take uptake in some communities from under 30% to around 75%. A working understanding of how board composition actually changes. Through Inclusive Boards, the executive search firm he co-founded, he has placed non-executive directors across more than 150 sports governing bodies and led culture change work with organisations including the Royal Horticultural Society and the Rugby Football League. A serious editorial thesis on the strategic value of outsider perspective, set out in The Power of the Outsider (Hodder & Stoughton, 2023). The book gives boards a usable frame for treating difference as a commercial asset, drawn from his own experience inside Downing Street. Direct exposure to the political and reputational risks senior leaders face when public trust fractures. Few speakers have served at the centre of UK government during a comparable period of institutional pressure. Biography highlights Special Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the Civil Society and Communities brief, 2019 to 2021. The most senior Black adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office during this period. Co-founder of Inclusive Boards, an executive search firm specialising in non-executive and board appointments. Named Third Sector and Public Sector Recruiter of the Year at the 2023 National Recruiter Awards. Author of The Power of the Outsider: A Journey of Discovery (Hodder & Stoughton, 2023), with cover endorsement from ITV political editor Robert Peston, and Winning the Race (RoperPenberthy, 2012). Member of the Race Disparity Audit Advisory Board under Prime Minister Theresa May, chaired by Lord Simon Woolley. Recognised on the MIPAD Top 100 list (Most Influential People of African Descent), a UN-aligned global initiative. Regular UK political commentator on programmes including Question Time and Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. Publishes Future-proof Politics on Substack. Biography In early 2021, vaccine uptake in some UK communities sat below 30 per cent. By the time Samuel Kasumu left Downing Street in May that year, it had climbed to around 75 per cent. The cross-government confidence programme he led, working alongside vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi, had reached audiences the rest of government could not. That campaign captures the practical question Samuel works on. As Special Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the Civil Society and Communities brief, he was the most senior Black adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office. The role required both political instinct and credibility with communities Whitehall does not naturally reach. His commercial work runs in parallel. Inclusive Boards, the executive search firm he co-founded, has placed non-executive directors across more than 150 sports governing bodies. The firm has worked with organisations including the Royal Horticultural Society and the Rugby Football League on culture change. It was named Third Sector and Public Sector Recruiter of the Year at the 2023 National Recruiter Awards. His 2023 book The Power of the Outsider (Hodder & Stoughton) makes the case underpinning the rest of his work. Outsiders, he argues, see what insiders miss, and organisations that learn to value that perspective gain a strategic edge. The book carries a cover endorsement from ITV political editor Robert Peston. Key speaking topics Inclusive leadership and board diversity Trust between institutions and communities Civil society and government relations Outsider perspective as a strategic asset Cultural intelligence in policy and corporate communication Race and identity in the modern workplace Crisis communication with hard-to-reach audiences Ideal for Chief People Officers and DEI leads responsible for board composition and culture change at scale Chairs and CEOs working through institutional trust challenges with employees and external stakeholders Public sector and government audiences engaged in community engagement and behaviour change Corporate leadership teams seeking a sharper frame on how to treat difference as a strategic asset Audience outcomes A clearer view of why institutional trust collapses with specific communities, and what kinds of leadership and engagement actually rebuild it Inside lessons on how government and large organisations make decisions when public confidence is fragile A sharper editorial frame for treating difference as a commercial asset across boards and executive teams Direct insight into what changes board composition in practice, drawn from work with hundreds of organisations through Inclusive Boards

Why organisations work with Sandi Toksvig She did not simply comment on gender equity: in 2015 she resigned one of the most prominent chairs in British broadcasting to co-found a political party around it. That choice gives her a credibility in the room that no consultant or commentator can acquire. Forty years in live, contested broadcast formats, chairing political satire, hosting mass-audience television, moderating fast-moving intellectual debate, represent a specific and rare capability: keeping a complex, high-stakes conversation moving with precision and warmth. Her TED Talk on structural gender representation and her play Bully Boy (Nuffield Theatre; West End, 2012), which examines moral ambiguity and institutional culture, demonstrate that her engagement with social complexity goes well beyond commentary. As President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and a Cambridge-educated author of 20-plus books across fiction, non-fiction, and drama, she brings genuine intellectual depth to conversations about communication, culture, and representation, not just platform authority. She has held the room at every level, from broadcast audiences of millions to TED stages, making serious arguments about inclusion, accountability, and change both rigorous and accessible to a leadership audience. Biography highlights First-class degree in archaeology and anthropology, Girton College, Cambridge; received two academic prizes; performed in the first all-woman Cambridge Footlights show, alongside Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Emma Thompson Co-founder, Women’s Equality Party (2015), with journalist Catherine Mayer; left BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz – a role she held for ten years – specifically to do so; covered by the New York Times; TED Talk on gender representation and political mobilisation Host, BBC Two’s QI (from 2016, succeeding Stephen Fry); co-presenter, Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off (2017-2020); chair, BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz (2006-2015) Playwright: Bully Boy premiered at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton (2011); transferred to launch the debut West End season of St James Theatre, London (2012) – the first new West End theatre in 30 years OBE for services to broadcasting (2014 New Year Honours); Chancellor, University of Portsmouth; Honorary Fellow, Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge President, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (from 2019); author of more than twenty books for adults and children Biography The gap between organisations that declare commitment to gender equity and those that actually change their leadership pipelines is well documented. Sandi Toksvig entered this conversation at measurable personal cost – resigning as chair of BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz in 2015 to co-found the Women’s Equality Party with journalist Catherine Mayer. A TED Talk on gender representation and political mobilisation followed. The decision established Toksvig’s standing not as a commentator on inclusion but as someone who had tested her convictions against institutional consequence. Her broadcast career provides a different order of evidence. Four decades in live, contested formats – hosting BBC Two’s QI, co-presenting Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off, chairing political satire on Radio 4 – demonstrate a specific capability: keeping complex, high-stakes conversation moving with precision, wit, and authority. She holds a first-class degree from Girton College, Cambridge, where she also performed in the first all-woman Cambridge Footlights show. Her range extends beyond broadcasting. As a playwright, her Bully Boy – a work on moral ambiguity, institutional authority, and the human cost of political decision-making – premiered at the Nuffield Theatre and transferred to launch St James Theatre’s debut West End season. She has served as President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, and has published more than twenty books across fiction, non-fiction, and children’s literature. For organisations working to close the distance between stated values and visible change on inclusion and representation, Toksvig brings something precise: four decades of live broadcast authority, the civic credibility of having acted on her convictions, and the capacity to hold a difficult room without losing it. Key speaking topics Gender equity and leadership representation Storytelling and political communication Cultural intelligence and cross-cultural perspective Civic activism and democratic accountability Satire, comedy, and public discourse Inclusive organisational culture Writing, publishing, and creative practice Ideal for CHROs and People & Culture leaders hosting executive summits or leadership conferences on inclusion, representation, and cultural change Boards and senior leadership teams working to move DEI commitments from policy to practice Awards ceremonies, after-dinner engagements, and conference programmes requiring an anchor voice combining intellectual authority with wit Professional associations in media, publishing, law, or higher education seeking a credible voice on representation, communication, and civic responsibility Audience outcomes A clear frame for why gender equity stalls despite broad agreement – and what it takes to make the argument land in a room Understanding of how communication style and conviction, not data alone, drive cultural change in organisations Perspective on the relationship between satire, public discourse, and institutional accountability A model of what sustained, costly commitment to inclusion looks like – beyond declarations and frameworks Confidence in approaching contested conversations about representation with authority and without defensiveness

Why organisations work with Sandra Wachter Her Counterfactual Explanations framework – co-developed at Oxford and adopted in production by Google, IBM, Microsoft, Accenture, and Vodafone – gives organisations a legally defensible method for explaining algorithmic decisions to the individuals they affect, not just to internal audit teams. Her Conditional Demographic Disparity (CDD) bias test demonstrated that 13 of 20 widely used bias detection tools fail EU non-discrimination standards. Amazon and IBM implemented CDD in their cloud services; it was deployed in 2024 to expose systemic bias in the Dutch national education system, resulting in a ministerial apology and formal reform. She works at the precise intersection of legal standards and technical metrics – meaning she can tell risk and compliance teams not only what accountability requires but how to measure whether systems actually deliver it. As a member of the European Parliament Working Group on AI Liability and the World Bank Task Force on Access to Justice and Technology, she tracks how regulatory frameworks are being written in real time, giving organisations visibility into requirements before they become mandatory. Her research has shifted institutional practice at the NHS and MHRA, which are revising medical device licensing standards using her findings on the unintended consequences of common group fairness measures – a concrete precedent for how her work moves from publication to policy. Biography highlights Professor of Technology and Regulation, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford; Humboldt Professor of Technology and Regulation, Hasso Plattner Institute Leads the Governance of Emerging Technologies (GET) Research Programme at Oxford Co-developer of Counterfactual Explanations (now deployed by Google, IBM, Microsoft, Accenture, and Vodafone) and the Conditional Demographic Disparity (CDD) bias test (implemented by Amazon and IBM; applied in the Netherlands education reform, 2024) Published in Science Robotics, Nature Electronics, and Nature Reviews Physics; cited over 20,000 times (Google Scholar) Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award (2025, €3.5M); O2RB Excellence in Impact Award (2018, 2021); Computer Weekly Women in UK Tech Award (2021); Privacy Law Scholar Award (2019); CognitionX AI Ethics Award (2017, 2023) Policy roles: European Parliament Working Group on AI Liability; World Bank Task Force on Access to Justice and Technology; WEF Global Futures Council on Values, Ethics and Innovation; UNESCO; UK Police Ethics Guidance Group Previously Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School; Research Fellow, The Alan Turing Institute Media profiles in the Financial Times, Wired, New York Times, BBC,Guardian, Harvard Business Review, Reuters, Time Magazine, and MIT Technology Review Biography Sandra Wachter is Professor of Technology and Regulation at the University of Oxford’s Oxford Internet Institute and Humboldt Professor at the Hasso Plattner Institute. She leads Oxford’s Governance of Emerging Technologies Research Programme – work that sits not in the space of ethical aspiration but in the harder territory of legal standards and technical verification. The tools her research has produced are in use at scale. The Counterfactual Explanations framework she co-developed is deployed in production by Google, IBM, Microsoft, Accenture, and Vodafone. Her Conditional Demographic Disparity (CDD) bias test – built after demonstrating that 13 of 20 commonly used bias tools fail EU non-discrimination law – was adopted by Amazon and IBM in their cloud services. In 2024, CDD was used to expose systemic bias in the Dutch national education system; the Dutch Minister of Education apologised and initiated formal reform. The NHS and MHRA have revised their medical device licensing practices using her findings on the consequences of widely applied group fairness measures. Her publications appear in Science Robotics, Nature Electronics, and Nature Reviews Physics, and she has been cited over 20,000 times. Awards include the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Award (2025, €3.5M), the O2RB Excellence in Impact Award (2018, 2021), the Privacy Law Scholar Award (2019), and the CognitionX AI Ethics Award (2017, 2023). She sits on the European Parliament Working Group on AI Liability, the World Bank Task Force on Access to Justice and Technology, the WEF Global Futures Council on Values, Ethics and Innovation, and the UK Police Ethics Guidance Group, and was previously Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. For boards and risk leaders, her most immediate value is diagnostic: the gap between what organisations say their AI governance achieves and what the regulatory and technical evidence supports is larger than most assume. She has spent a decade building the instruments to measure that gap precisely. Key speaking topics AI governance and regulation Algorithmic accountability and explainability Algorithmic bias and non-discrimination law Generative AI and legal liability The EU AI Act and regulatory compliance Profiling, inferential analytics, and data protection Platform regulation and internet governance Ideal for Boards and C-suite teams making AI adoption and governance commitments Chief Data Officers and technology leadership teams designing accountability frameworks Legal, compliance, and risk leaders responsible for AI deployment decisions Public sector and regulatory audiences shaping AI policy and standards Audience outcomes A clear-eyed assessment of where current AI governance practices fall short of EU and UK legal standards – and why common assumptions about bias testing are insufficient Practical grounding in legally defensible tools for explainability and bias measurement, including frameworks already adopted by major technology companies Informed foresight into how the EU AI Act and emerging AI liability frameworks will affect deployment requirements Understanding of how generative AI creates specific new liabilities around hallucination, misinformation, and the emerging legal question of AI truthfulness The ability to distinguish between stated accountability commitments and governance that can withstand external scrutiny

Why organisations work with Sarah Montague She has spent three decades interviewing heads of state, finance ministers, and central bankers on live broadcast – the preparation and precision that requires does not disappear when the venue is a conference room rather than a radio studio. Her early career as a Eurobond dealer and stockbroker at NatWest Capital Markets gives her a genuine fluency in financial and economic discussions that most broadcast journalists cannot credibly claim. She has chaired high-profile forums for Savills, ABTA, NHS Confederation, Nominet, and Jardine Lloyd Thompson, demonstrating the ability to absorb technical subject matter across sectors without losing journalistic rigour. As a sitting BBC Radio 4 anchor – not a former presenter – she brings active institutional authority to a leadership event, which changes the dynamic of the room before the first question is asked. Biography highlights Lead presenter, BBC Radio 4’s The World at One; regular presenter of the Today programme for 18 years (2002–2018) Presenter, HARDtalk, BBC World; hosted Nobel Minds, BBC World’s roundtable discussion with Nobel Laureates Broadcast career spanning BBC Newsnight, BBC News 24 (one of its original anchors), and Breakfast with Frost Pre-BBC roles at Reuters Television and Sky News as business correspondent; early career as stockbroker and Eurobond dealer at NatWest Capital Markets Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Sussex; Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Bristol Named conference chair for Savills, ABTA, NHS Confederation, and Nominet, among others Biography Getting economics, geopolitics, and public policy right in a leadership forum takes preparation, authority, and the ability to challenge without breaking the room. Sarah Montague has been doing exactly that on BBC Radio 4 for three decades. As lead presenter of The World at One – and for 18 years before that, a regular anchor on the Today programme – she has interrogated heads of state, finance ministers, and central bankers at moments when precision really mattered. Her work on HARDtalk for BBC World extended that to the full range of global leadership: political, corporate, and institutional. She also hosted Nobel Minds, BBC World’s roundtable with Nobel Laureates – a format that rewards exactly the kind of structured, high-pressure intellectual facilitation that senior leadership events demand. Before journalism, she worked in financial markets – first as a stockbroker at County NatWest, then as a Eurobond dealer at NatWest Capital Markets. That background shows up in the conference room. She moves between financial services, geopolitical risk, and public policy without needing a briefing to catch up. She has chaired and moderated for organisations across property, trade, technology, and healthcare – Savills, ABTA, NHS Confederation, Nominet, and others. A senior audience, a tight agenda, a contested topic: the combination that tests most moderators is where Montague is most at home. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and global political risk Economic trends and financial markets UK and international current affairs Public policy and regulatory change Conference moderation and high-stakes facilitation Media, journalism, and editorial integrity Gender equity in the workplace Ideal for C-suite and board forums where geopolitical or economic uncertainty is a standing strategic concern Financial services and professional services organisations hosting annual leadership or strategy conferences Public sector, government, and regulatory bodies requiring impartial, authoritative facilitation FTSE 350 and multinational organisations running senior panel discussions that require a credible external chair Audience outcomes A clearer picture of how political and economic developments connect to strategic decisions facing their organisation Structured insight extracted from senior panellists through rigorous facilitation, rather than left to emerge by chance Confidence that contested or technically complex topics will be handled with precision and impartiality Exposure to a questioning methodology developed over 30 years of frontline political and economic broadcast journalism A well-managed discussion that stays on time, covers the ground, and leaves the room with something to act on

Why organisations work with Sasha Qadri Her years as Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live mean she approaches moderation as an editorial problem: she understands what a discussion is supposed to achieve before she takes the stage to lead it – not just how to keep it moving. She started her career in investment banking and has worked extensively with financial institutions including Lloyds Bank and the Treasury – giving her genuine financial literacy that shows when chairing sessions on fintech, capital markets, and economic policy. Her live broadcast background – including breaking news on Sky News and production roles at CNN and CNBC – means she is rarely unsettled by format changes, difficult panellists, or unscripted moments in high-profile live environments. She has chaired the Innovate Finance Global Summit, co-hosted London Tech Week and its Global Leaders Summit, and emceed Money 20/20 in Europe: events where the participant list demands more than capable chairmanship. Her interviewee roster spans the Former UK Chancellor, the Head of GCHQ, leading technology CEOs, and AI researchers – giving her substantive range across the full landscape of technology, finance, and public policy that executive audiences expect a moderator to navigate. Biography highlights Anchored television news for Sky News; produced and reported for CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, Reuters, and Channel 4 News Former Senior Programming Director, Bloomberg Live – curated and moderated flagship business and technology events Career began in investment banking (UBS cited by multiple bureau sources); subsequent commercial experience at lastminute.com during the dotcom era Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge; further study at The Sorbonne Recent events include: co-host, London Tech Week; chair, Innovate Finance Global Summit; emcee, Money 20/20 Middle East; main stage chair, Tech Show London; main stage chair and moderator, Global Health Exhibition; moderator, FII Institute and Cityscape Global Named interviewees include Rt. Hon. Philip Hammond (Former UK Chancellor), Anne Keast-Butler (Head of GCHQ), Mo Gawdat, Martha Lane Fox, Francesca Carlesi (Revolut UK CEO), and Mike Martin (Strava CEO) Recent corporate clients include Palo Alto Networks, Amazon, Akamai, Royal London, and Mastercard Biography Leadership events at the intersection of technology, finance, and business policy are only as good as the conversation they produce. Sasha Qadri is a broadcaster and event moderator whose career has run across two disciplines that rarely coexist: live television journalism – anchoring for Sky News, producing for CNN, CNBC, and Bloomberg – and editorial leadership of major live events as Senior Programming Director at Bloomberg Live. That editorial role is what distinguishes her from the professional host market. At Bloomberg Live, she did not simply chair discussions – she curated them, shaping the content architecture of flagship business and technology events before taking the stage to lead them. The combination of knowing what a conversation is supposed to achieve, then making it happen with senior executives in front of a live audience, is the specific capability organisations are hiring when they book her. Her professional foundation adds further range. She began her career in investment banking and has since worked regularly with financial institutions including Lloyds Bank and the Treasury. A degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge gives her the grounding to operate across the full space where technology, finance, economics, and public policy intersect – and to interview figures including a former UK Chancellor and the Head of GCHQ with genuine comprehension, not just broadcast fluency. In 2025, she co-hosted London Tech Week and chaired its Global Leaders Summit, emceed Money 20/20 in Europe, and chaired the Innovate Finance Global Summit (the UK fintech sector’s flagship annual conference). The same year extended her chairing and moderation work across the Middle East, including FII Institute, Cityscape Global, and the Global Health Exhibition. Events that trust her with their main stage consistently feature participant lists where competent chairmanship is insufficient. Key speaking topics Artificial intelligence and digital transformation Financial services and fintech leadership Cybersecurity and technology risk AI adoption and generative AI Sustainability and energy transition Geopolitics, policy, and economic leadership Business strategy and technology innovation Ideal for CTOs, CISOs, and technology leadership conferences requiring a moderator with genuine sector depth, not just broadcast presence Financial services and fintech events – CFO, CEO, and C-suite panel formats where moderator literacy on capital markets, regulation, and digital disruption is material Public-private sector summits on technology, national security, and economic strategy, where interviewees include government officials and policymakers Major international conferences requiring anchor-standard broadcast experience combined with editorial event direction Audience outcomes Executive panel discussions that move past rehearsed positions into substantive exchange Clearer understanding of emerging intersections between technology, finance, and policy – framed for decision-makers, not technical specialists Confident navigation of complex or sensitive topics – AI ethics, geopolitical risk, fintech regulation – without losing audience accessibility A moderated session that maintains engagement and structure across multiple hours, formats, or speakers Conversations shaped by editorial intelligence that understands what the session is supposed to achieve before it begins

Why organisations work with Shang-Jin Wei He has sat in the seat where these questions are actually answered, as Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and a senior research economist at the IMF, not just analysed them from a faculty office. His chair at Columbia Business School is specifically the N.T. Wang Professorship of Chinese Business and Economy, giving boards a single, named source on US-China economic integration with academic standing behind it. He publishes in the journals that regulators and central banks read, including American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy and Quarterly Journal of Economics, so his views on capital flows and currency carry weight in policy rooms as well as boardrooms. His Project Syndicate columns track the live arguments around the renminbi, Chinese trade surpluses, Ant Group, Trump-era tariffs and India, which means clients get a current macro read, not a recycled lecture. Biography highlights N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy and Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School and Columbia SIPA. Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and Director General, Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department, 2014 to 2016. Former Assistant Director and Chief of the Trade and Investment Division at the IMF Research Department; IMF Chief of Mission to Myanmar in 2004. Former New Century Chair in Trade and International Economics at the Brookings Institution; former Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Research Associate at NBER and Research Fellow at CEPR; published in American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Quarterly Journal of Economics and Journal of Finance. Regular Project Syndicate columnist on China, the renminbi, trade and emerging markets; co-author of China’s Growing Role in World Trade (NBER, with Robert Feenstra). Biography The hard question on China is no longer whether it matters. It is which numbers to trust, which signals to read, and where the operating reality is diverging from the official line. That gap is where capital is mispriced. Shang-Jin Wei has worked on both sides of that gap. As Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank from 2014 to 2016, he led the analytical work behind regional fora such as ASEAN+3 and APEC, and advised the ADB President on growth diagnostics across developing Asia. Before that, he was Assistant Director and Chief of the Trade and Investment Division at the IMF Research Department, and the Fund’s Chief of Mission to Myanmar. At Columbia, he holds the N.T. Wang Chair in Chinese Business and Economy, with a joint appointment between the Business School and the School of International and Public Affairs. His research, published in the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy and Journal of Finance, sits at the meeting point of trade, international finance and the institutional architecture of the Chinese economy. He is a Research Associate at NBER, a Research Fellow at CEPR, and a frequent Project Syndicate contributor on the renminbi, Chinese trade surpluses, Ant Group and the structural reforms China still has to make. For boards and investors, the value is concrete. He reads China the way someone who has had to sign off on a regional growth forecast reads it. He treats trade and currency as live operating variables, not slogans. Buyers leave a session with a clearer view of where the real risk in their China exposure sits, and what to watch over the next two cycles. Key speaking topics US-China economic integration Chinese growth, structural reform and policy outlook The renminbi, capital flows and currency risk Trade, tariffs and the future of globalisation Emerging-market macro and developing Asia International finance and cross-border investment Geopolitical risk for global investors Ideal for Boards and investment committees with material China or wider Asia exposure CFOs, treasurers and CIOs setting capital allocation under tariff and currency uncertainty Strategy and corporate development leaders reviewing supply chain and market exposure to China Financial services and asset management firms briefing institutional clients on emerging-market risk Audience outcomes A clearer read on which Chinese economic indicators are meaningful and which are not. A working view on where US-China trade and tariff dynamics are heading and what that does to operating models. A grounded position on the renminbi, capital controls and the limits of RMB internationalisation. A sharper sense of where emerging-market risk concentrates beyond the headline narrative.

Why organisations work with Shashi Tharoor He has held substantive roles at all three levels of global decision-making – UN senior leadership, national government minister, and parliamentary committee chair. His analysis of geopolitical risk is grounded in direct institutional experience, not inference. Inglorious Empire makes a specific, evidenced argument that British colonialism reduced India’s share of world GDP from 23 per cent to 4 per cent. That argument now shapes how India approaches trade negotiations, multilateral engagement, and its relationships with former colonial powers – and any organisation operating in or alongside India needs to understand it. As current chair of India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, he articulates how India’s foreign policy decisions are actually being made and debated. That is not a perspective available from analysts outside the room. His 2015 Oxford Union speech became one of the most-viewed political addresses in recent memory, without institutional amplification, on the strength of its argument alone. Organisations placing him before senior audiences are drawing on a demonstrably high-impact communicator. His Project Syndicate column appears in approximately 80 newspapers, alongside regular contributions to The New York Times and Washington Post – a track record of making geopolitical complexity legible to exactly the audiences his clients are trying to reach. Biography highlights Four-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala; current chair of the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on External Affairs 29-year UN career (1978–2007), culminating as Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information under Secretary-General Kofi Annan; India’s official candidate for UN Secretary-General in 2006, finishing second to Ban Ki-moon PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, at age 22 – the youngest in the school’s history at that time; founding editor-in-chief of the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs Author of 23+ books; Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India won the Sahitya Akademi Award (2019) and Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award (2017); The Great Indian Novel won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (1991) Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (France, 2022); Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (India’s highest honour for overseas nationals, 2004); World Economic Forum «Global Leader of Tomorrow» (1998) Contributing author to The New York Times, Washington Post, TIME, and Newsweek International; monthly Project Syndicate column syndicated to approximately 80 newspapers worldwide Biography India’s share of the global economy stood at 23 per cent when the British East India Company arrived. By independence in 1947, it had fallen to 4 per cent. That single data point – made with forensic precision in Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India – is how Shashi Tharoor moved a historical argument into mainstream geopolitical discourse. The book grew from a 2015 Oxford Union speech that accumulated millions of YouTube views and earned cross-party praise in India, including from Prime Minister Modi. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2019. Tharoor’s authority on international affairs is not rhetorical. He spent 29 years at the United Nations – joining as a refugee worker in Geneva in 1978 and rising to Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information under Kofi Annan. In 2006, the Government of India nominated him as its official candidate for Secretary-General; he finished second to Ban Ki-moon in the Security Council straw polls. The candidacy was a direct acknowledgement of the stature he had built inside the institution. Since entering elected politics in 2009, he has served four terms as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram and currently chairs the Lok Sabha Standing Committee on External Affairs. His vantage point spans the full arc of India’s global engagement – from the multilateral institutions he helped lead to the parliamentary committees now setting the direction of India’s foreign and trade policy. For organisations navigating a world where India is simultaneously a growth market, a strategic partner, and an independent geopolitical actor, Tharoor offers something no consultant’s report can replicate: a first-hand account of how power actually works from the inside of both global institutions and national government. He holds a doctorate from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and contributes regularly to The New York Times, Washington Post, and Project Syndicate. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and the fracturing of the multilateral order India’s strategic autonomy and its global rise Post-colonial history and its economic legacy International trade, diplomacy, and political risk India as an emerging market and 21st-century power Multilateral institutions: limitations, reform, and alternatives Leadership in public life and political decision-making Ideal for Boards and C-suite teams with material India exposure or strategic interest in South Asia Senior leaders navigating geopolitical risk in global markets – particularly in the context of US–China–India triangulation Policy-focused leadership conferences engaging with the future of multilateralism and international institutions Organisations in sectors directly affected by India’s trade and regulatory policy: manufacturing, financial services, technology, and energy Audience outcomes A structured framework for understanding India’s geopolitical positioning and what its pursuit of strategic autonomy means for international business Informed context on how post-colonial history is actively shaping India’s trade relationships, diplomatic priorities, and domestic politics A clearer picture of how multilateral institutions are evolving – and what fills the gaps when they fail to hold Practical language for discussing geopolitical risk in board conversations, without resorting to oversimplification A more grounded model for engagement with the Global South, particularly India, that goes beyond market data

Why organisations work with Shlomo Ben-Ami He led the Israeli negotiating team at the 2000 Camp David Summit and the Taba talks that followed, which remain the high-water mark of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiation. Briefing audiences on the region from outside that room is a different proposition to briefing from inside it. His academic base is serious: a PhD from Oxford, headship of the Tel Aviv University School of History, and the Elias Sourasky Chair for Spanish and Latin American Studies. His analysis reads as historian’s work rather than political memoir. Two Oxford University Press books, Scars of War, Wounds of Peace (2006) and Prophets Without Honor (2022), give audiences reference texts rather than talking points. Co-founding and Vice Presidency of the Toledo International Centre for Peace in Spain places him inside the European-Mediterranean diplomatic network, useful for international audiences. Project Syndicate syndication means his analysis is already in the diet of many executive and board readers, which shortens the framing time inside a session. Biography highlights Former Foreign Minister of Israel (2000); former Minister of Public Security (1999) Israel’s first Ambassador to Spain, 1987 to 1991 Head of the Israeli delegation at the 2000 Camp David Summit and the Taba talks Co-founder and Vice President of the Toledo International Centre for Peace PhD in History, University of Oxford; Head of the School of History, Tel Aviv University, 1982 to 1986 Author of Scars of War, Wounds of Peace (Oxford University Press, 2006) and Prophets Without Honor (Oxford University Press, 2022); Project Syndicate columnist Biography The Camp David Summit of 2000 is the most-analysed moment in contemporary Middle East diplomacy, and the person who led the Israeli negotiating team at it is Shlomo Ben-Ami. A serving Foreign Minister under Prime Minister Ehud Barak, he had by that point spent almost a decade at the centre of Israel’s foreign relations: first as Israel’s first Ambassador to Spain from 1987 to 1991, then as a Knesset member on the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, then as Minister of Public Security, before taking the foreign portfolio in 2000. His diplomatic record predates that. He served on Israel’s delegation to the 1993 Madrid Peace Conference and led the Israeli delegation at the Multilateral Talks on Refugees in Ottawa. The credibility behind the work is academic: a PhD in History from Oxford, a period as Head of the School of History at Tel Aviv University, and the Elias Sourasky Chair for Spanish and Latin American Studies. Since leaving government he has written what are now the standard practitioner accounts of the process he was part of. Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy, published by Oxford University Press in 2006, challenges a number of founding myths about Israel’s early history. Prophets Without Honor: The 2000 Camp David Summit and the End of the Two-State Solution, published by Oxford University Press in 2022, is the definitive inside account of the summit he chaired. He writes regularly for Project Syndicate, which places his commentary in front of international executive and policy audiences. He co-founded the Toledo International Centre for Peace in Spain and serves as its Vice President, keeping him inside the European-Mediterranean diplomatic networks still working on conflict resolution in the region. For investor, corporate and policy audiences trying to read the Middle East with the seriousness the region now demands, Ben-Ami is one of the few voices whose analysis is built on both direct negotiation experience and Oxford-trained historical scholarship. Key speaking topics Middle East geopolitics and the Israeli-Arab conflict Inside the 2000 Camp David Summit and the Taba talks International negotiation, mediation and conflict resolution Israeli domestic politics and foreign policy The two-state solution and post-Oslo process Europe, Spain and the Mediterranean security picture Ideal for Boards, CEOs and investment committees assessing Middle East geopolitical risk Financial institutions, energy companies and multinationals with Middle East exposure Policy forums, think tanks and international affairs audiences Conferences on diplomacy, international negotiation and historical scholarship Audience outcomes A first-hand account of what actually happened inside Camp David and Taba, not the public version A clearer view of how and why two-state diplomacy stalled and what would be required to move it Historical context drawn from his Oxford University Press books and long academic record Insight into Spain, the EU and the Mediterranean framework around Middle East conflict, from a former Israeli Ambassador to Madrid Reference material in Scars of War, Wounds of Peace and Prophets Without Honor for follow-up reading

Why organisations work with Simon Anholt Twenty years of direct advisory work with Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs and governments across more than 60 countries gives him a breadth of comparative case material that no academic or agency can match. The Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index, one of the largest social surveys ever conducted and running since 2005, gives his analysis a measured baseline rather than an anecdotal one. The Good Country Index reframed nation performance from domestic output to global contribution and has become a reference point for governments, NGOs and multilateral institutions. His book The Good Country Equation was described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as «a masterpiece», and his earlier books Competitive Identity, Brand America and Brand New Justice are among the standard texts on place branding and its implications. He founded the Journal of Place Brand and Public Diplomacy, anchoring him inside the academic community that now studies the field he defined. Biography highlights Independent policy advisor; Anholt & Co. has worked with governments of more than 60 countries Coined the term «nation brand» in 1998; founder of the field of place branding Founder of the Good Country Index (2014) and the Global Vote (2016) Founder of the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index (2005-); 300 billion+ data points analysed Honorary Professor at the University of East Anglia Author of Brand New Justice, Brand America, Competitive Identity, Places and The Good Country Equation Founding and emeritus editor of the Journal of Place Brand and Public Diplomacy Biography National reputation is one of the most consequential and least-understood assets a country owns, and Simon Anholt has spent more than two decades making it measurable. He coined the term «nation brand» in 1998, founded the Anholt-GfK Roper Nation Brands Index in 2005, and has since advised more than sixty governments, Presidents, Prime Ministers and monarchs on how to build the kind of international reputation that actually shifts investment, talent and political influence. His central argument is that reputation is earned through what a country does, not what it says. That thesis became the Good Country Index in 2014, an annual ranking of how much each country contributes to humanity and the planet, built from 35 indicators drawn largely from United Nations and World Bank datasets. It has since become a reference point in international policy discussions, and a rare example of a league table that leaders take seriously. The Global Vote project, which he launched in 2016, extends the same argument into electoral politics, allowing international participation in national elections on the basis of candidates’ potential contribution to humanity. His books, Brand New Justice, Brand America, Competitive Identity, Places and The Good Country Equation, set out the academic and practical foundations of the field, with the latter described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as «a masterpiece». He holds an Honorary Professorship at the University of East Anglia and founded the Journal of Place Brand and Public Diplomacy, the academic journal that now carries the field he defined. For governments, national agencies, multilateral institutions and multinationals working on the intersection of reputation, policy and global cooperation, Anholt offers a combination of comparative advisory experience, independent data and a coherent ethical frame that is difficult to find elsewhere. Key speaking topics The Good Country Index and the case for global cooperation Nation branding and place branding Reputation, policy and national competitiveness Governance and the global consequences of domestic decisions Big data and national identity Tourism, trade and investment promotion strategy Ideal for Governments, heads of state offices, ministries and national agencies working on reputation, investment and tourism Multilateral institutions, NGOs and policy forums focused on international cooperation and the SDG agenda Multinationals with significant place-branding or country-of-origin exposure International conferences on geopolitics, development and public diplomacy Audience outcomes A measurable framework for national reputation drawn from the Nation Brands Index and the Good Country Index A clearer view of the policy decisions that genuinely move international perception, versus those that do not Comparative case material from more than 60 countries advised by Anholt & Co. Reference texts in Competitive Identity and The Good Country Equation for internal and programme follow-up A framing of national strategy that integrates reputation, policy and global contribution rather than treating them as separate agendas

Why organisations work with Simon Jack His position as sitting BBC Business Editor gives direct, current insight into how major financial and corporate stories are selected, framed and brought to national audiences – not historical analysis, but active editorial intelligence A decade in investment banking across London, New York and Bermuda means he interrogates market events and corporate decisions from inside knowledge, not observation; financial audiences notice the difference Uniquely placed to explain the mechanics of media-corporate accountability, how organisations end up on the wrong side of a headline, and what that process actually looks like from within a national broadcaster The Good Bad Billionaire podcast (Best Business Podcast, British Podcast Awards 2024) demonstrates an ability to make wealth, power and business ethics accessible and genuinely engaging for broad audiences – a value signal for any organisation wanting sharp facilitation, not just informed commentary His BBC Panorama film on male suicide brings personal authority to mental health discussions in business contexts that few speakers in this space can match Biography highlights BBC Business Editor since 2016, holding the role previously occupied by Robert Peston, Jeff Randall and Kamal Ahmed Decade in corporate and investment banking across London, New York and Bermuda before joining the BBC PPE, St John’s College, Oxford Lead BBC correspondent for the 2008 financial crisis: Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, AIG bailout, Lloyds TSB/HBOS Co-presenter of Good Bad Billionaire (BBC World Service) – Best Business Podcast, British Podcast Awards 2024 Presented BBC Panorama «A Suicide in the Family» (2015), a personal investigation into male suicide and the death of his father Biography When a major financial institution collapses, a rate decision lands, or a FTSE company comes under scrutiny, the story that reaches boardrooms and living rooms alike passes through a small number of editorial gatekeepers. Understanding how that process works – what gets reported, what gets simplified, what gets missed – is increasingly relevant to any senior leader operating in a complex economic environment. Simon Jack has spent two decades sitting at that interface. Appointed BBC Business Editor in 2016, he leads the corporation’s coverage of business, markets and economic policy across television, radio and digital platforms (a role previously held by Robert Peston). Before entering journalism, he spent a decade in corporate and investment banking in London, New York and Bermuda, building a working understanding of how financial institutions operate, how risk is managed, and how decisions are made under pressure that journalists who came up through newsrooms simply do not have. The dual experience of practitioner then investigator, gives Jack a particular kind of credibility. He has reported from inside major market events, including the 2008 financial crisis across Lehman Brothers, the AIG bailout and the HBOS collapse. He co-presents Good Bad Billionaire for BBC World Service, which won Best Business Podcast at the 2024 British Podcast Awards, demonstrating an ability to make the economics and ethics of extreme wealth engaging for audiences well beyond the specialist. He also presented the BBC Panorama film «A Suicide in the Family» – a personal and investigative piece on male suicide – which established him as a credible voice on mental health in a way that is unusual for a business journalist of his seniority. His value to organisations is not analysis from a distance. It is the perspective of someone who has been inside the financial system, run editorial coverage of it, and understands how the story between those two worlds gets told. Key speaking topics Global financial markets and economic developments Banking, investment banking and institutional risk Media accountability and corporate reputation Business journalism and editorial decision-making Wealth, power and business ethics Male mental health in professional contexts Ideal for Financial services, banking and insurance sector conferences seeking credible external perspective on market dynamics and media coverage Senior leadership and board-level events where understanding the media-corporate interface is strategically relevant Corporate communications, investor relations and policy teams navigating how economic narratives are formed Organisations seeking a facilitator or moderator with genuine financial literacy and broadcast authority Audience outcomes A clearer understanding of how major financial and economic events are selected, shaped and communicated by national media, and what that means for organisational decision-making Insight into the practical gap between financial reality and public narrative, drawn from experience on both sides Greater literacy in reading market events and economic signals, without requiring specialist background A more grounded perspective on how corporate institutions appear under editorial scrutiny, and what factors shape that For events that include the mental health strand: a serious, personally grounded framing of male wellbeing in high-pressure professional environments

Why organisations work with Simon Johnson The Nobel Prize-cited research demonstrates, with causal rigour, that institutions shape economic outcomes more decisively than market forces alone, giving boards a framework for evaluating political and regulatory risk that goes beyond scenario planning or macro-forecasting Power and Progress argues that AI and major technologies historically concentrate gains in the hands of those who direct their development, not those who use them – a counter-argument to standard innovation optimism that risk committees and executive teams are increasingly required to engage with His time as IMF Chief Economist during the 2007–08 financial crisis positions his analysis of systemic risk as empirical rather than theoretical: he was inside the global institutional response as it happened Named a UK Government AI Ambassador in December 2025, Johnson is an active participant in policy formation on AI and productivity – organisations engaging him access thinking that is shaping government strategy in real time, not retrospectively His analytical method – using historical variation in colonial institutions as a natural experiment – gives him an unusually precise way of explaining why structural constraints persist, cutting through ideological framing on both left and right Biography highlights 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, shared with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity” – Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Ronald A. Kurtz (1954) Professor of Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan School of Management; head of the Global Economics and Management group Chief Economist (Economic Counsellor) and Director of Research, International Monetary Fund, 2007–08 Co-author of Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle over Technology and Prosperity (2023, with Acemoglu); 13 Bankers (2010); Jump-Starting America (2019) Named UK Government AI Ambassador, December 2025 Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; Fellow, Centre for Economic Policy Research; board of directors, Fannie Mae Project Syndicate contributor since 2007; undergraduate PPE, Corpus Christi College, Oxford; PhD Economics, MIT Biography The question of why some economies generate broad prosperity while others stagnate – despite access to similar technologies and capital – occupied Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu, and James Robinson for more than two decades. Their answer: institutions. The political and economic rules that determine who can participate in growth are not neutral infrastructure – they are the primary driver of long-term economic outcomes. That conclusion, now validated by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, has a direct implication for how senior leaders should read structural risk. Johnson’s position as IMF Chief Economist during the 2007–08 global financial crisis adds a dimension that academic credentials alone cannot. He was at the centre of the institutional response to a systemic collapse in real time. 13 Bankers, written in its aftermath, argued that the US financial sector’s political capture had created the conditions for catastrophic failure – a thesis that has since shaped how regulators, boards, and risk professionals think about the relationship between financial power and institutional design. His most recent major work, Power and Progress (co-authored with Acemoglu), extends the institutions framework to technology. The central argument is that technological progress – from the printing press to AI – does not automatically distribute its gains. Who benefits depends on who holds the power to direct how a technology is built and deployed. For organisations navigating AI investment decisions, that argument reframes the question: not “what will AI do?” but “who will AI benefit, and why?” Since December 2025 Johnson has served as a UK Government AI Ambassador, working on initiatives to direct AI development towards productivity gains that are broadly shared. He is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and contributes regularly to Project Syndicate. He holds degrees from the University of Oxford, the University of Manchester, and MIT. Key speaking topics Institutions, political economy, and long-term prosperity Systemic financial risk and banking reform AI, technology, and economic inequality Global economic governance and policy design Innovation-led growth and its distributional consequences Geopolitical risk and institutional resilience The political economy of financial crises Ideal for Board directors and executive leadership teams navigating political and regulatory risk Financial services organisations and risk committees Government, central bank, and public policy forums Chief Strategy Officers and scenario planning teams at global organisations Audience outcomes A research-grounded framework for understanding why institutions – not market dynamics alone – determine where economic value concentrates A clearer model for evaluating political and regulatory risk as a structural, not episodic, factor in long-term strategy A more critical lens on AI investment decisions, grounded in the historical pattern of how technologies distribute – or fail to distribute – their gains Direct insight into how systemic financial risk forms, drawn from IMF experience during the 2007–08 crisis Context for the current policy environment on AI and productivity, including where government thinking is heading

Why organisations work with Sir Trevor McDonald He is one of a small group of living public figures whose presence at the front of a room is itself a statement about the seriousness of the occasion. Royal events, charitable galas, and major industry awards have used him in this capacity for over thirty years. His firsthand interviews with Nelson Mandela on his release, Saddam Hussein on the eve of the first Gulf War, Colonel Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair give him a stock of stories about global power that no contemporary commentator working from secondary sources can match. He carries the credibility of more than thirty years anchoring ITV’s flagship evening news, where he was repeatedly polled as Britain’s most trusted news presenter. Audiences across age groups recognise him on sight. He brings the perspective of a journalist who reported from every continent across five decades, including over ten years covering the Northern Ireland Troubles, giving any audience access to someone who watched the modern world being shaped from the front row. Biography highlights Knighted in 1999 for services to broadcasting and journalism, awarded OBE in 1992 BAFTA Fellowship (2011), Royal Television Society Gold Medal (1998), BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award (1999), Royal Television Society Judges’ Award (2005), National Television Award for Special Recognition (2003) Sole presenter of ITV’s News at Ten from 1992 until December 2005, and host of ITV’s Tonight from 1999 to 2007 First British television journalist to interview Nelson Mandela following his release in 1990, and the only British journalist to interview Saddam Hussein on the eve of the first Gulf War Author of An Improbable Life: The Autobiography (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2019), a Sunday Times bestseller Former Chancellor of London South Bank University; honorary degrees from the University of Plymouth, the Open University, Liverpool John Moores, the University of the West Indies, Kingston University and others Biography Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Prison in February 1990 to face a global press pack. The first British television journalist to sit down with him for an interview was Sir Trevor McDonald, then Diplomatic Editor at ITN. Later that same year, on the eve of the first Gulf War, he became the only British journalist to secure an interview with Saddam Hussein. Those two assignments are typical of a career that placed Sir Trevor in proximity to most of the people who shaped late twentieth century geopolitics. Across more than five decades at the BBC, ITN and ITV, he reported from every continent. He covered Northern Ireland’s Troubles for over a decade, the negotiations over Britain’s entry to the European Common Market, the Reagan and Gorbachev summits, and the 1985 Philippine “people power” elections that won Channel Four News a BAFTA. From 1992 to December 2005 he was the sole presenter of ITV’s News at Ten, the country’s flagship evening news. He was repeatedly polled as Britain’s most trusted news presenter and named Television and Radio Industries Club Newscaster of the Year on multiple occasions between 1993 and 2009. Knighted in 1999 for services to broadcasting, awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011, he is one of a handful of figures in British public life whose name is itself a guarantee of seriousness at an event. His later work moved into long-form documentary for ITV, including Inside Death Row, To Catch A Serial Killer and Fred and Rose West: The Real Story. He published his Sunday Times bestselling autobiography An Improbable Life with Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2019. He is a former Chancellor of London South Bank University, has chaired the Better English Campaign, and co-chaired a Nuffield Foundation inquiry into the teaching of foreign languages in British schools, work for which he was honoured by the French and German governments. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and international affairs Reporting from conflict zones The arc of late twentieth century world events Trust and credibility in public communication Journalism, media and public life Witness to modern political history Ideal for Boards, executive committees and senior leadership audiences requiring gravitas at major in-house events Industry associations hosting flagship awards, conferences or anniversary dinners Trustees and committees of major public-interest charities, foundations and royal patronages Conference programme leads commissioning international affairs panels, moderated discussions or main-stage interviews Audience outcomes Stories from the room where Nelson Mandela gave his first British television interview after his release, and where Saddam Hussein sat for his only British television interview before the Gulf War A perspective on the long arc of post-1970 geopolitics from someone who reported it as it happened, not from someone analysing the archive Reflection on what serious public communication looks like, drawn from over thirty years anchoring Britain’s most-watched evening news A room that feels significant from the moment he takes the stage, which is the principal reason organisations rebook him