Political Risk & Policy

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 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 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 Reged Ahmad Two decades of live international news at the BBC and Guardian Australia, which means a panel chair who can run a difficult conversation on geopolitics or US politics without losing the room. Active editorial role as Host and Senior Producer of Guardian Australia’s Full Story podcast, so the questions she asks come from the same daily news cycle the audience is reading that morning. Experience anchoring BBC World News TV and BBC World Service Radio, including The Newsroom and the Global News Podcast, which translates directly into composure on a live stage with a corporate audience. Bilateral perspective on Australia, the UK and the United States, useful for events with leadership audiences spanning APAC, EMEA and North America. Voice over and event hosting practice that means scripted segments, sponsor reads and award announcements are handled to broadcast standard. Biography highlights Host and Senior Producer, Full Story, Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast, with co-host Nour Haydar. Co-host, Decoding America, Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast, with Jonathan Yerushalmy. Former international news anchor, BBC World News TV. Former presenter, BBC World Service Radio, including The Newsroom and the Global News Podcast. Former presenter and senior producer, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney. Bachelor of Media, Macquarie University, Sydney. Biography International news has rarely been harder to chair. A single panel on the global economy now has to take in US political volatility, sanctions exposure, supply chain decoupling and a media environment where every claim is contested. The skill that the room needs is editorial: the ability to keep a conversation moving while keeping it accurate. That is the working day of a senior broadcast journalist. Reged Ahmad has spent twenty years inside it, first in Australian community radio, then at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Sydney, and then in London at the BBC, where she anchored BBC World News TV and presented BBC World Service Radio programmes including The Newsroom and the Global News Podcast. She now sits at Guardian Australia, where she is Host and Senior Producer of Full Story, the masthead’s daily news podcast, with co-host Nour Haydar. She also co-hosts Decoding America with Guardian Australia’s US site editor Jonathan Yerushalmy, a brief that keeps her close to US politics, polling and policy as they move. For a corporate audience, the value is the chair, not the keynote. She is booked to host conferences, moderate executive panels and run Q and A on stage. The benefit is a conversation that holds together under live conditions: a journalist’s instinct for the next question, a presenter’s discipline on time, and a working knowledge of the global news cycle the audience cares about. Key speaking topics International news and current affairs Geopolitics and world affairs US politics and policy Global economic trends and markets Conference hosting and event moderation Panel chairing and on-stage interviews Media, journalism and the public sphere Ideal for Corporate conferences and leadership summits requiring a senior moderator across geopolitics, economics and US politics. Boards, executive committees and investor events running closed-door panels on global risk. Industry awards, gala dinners and brand events that need a broadcast-standard host. Communications, public affairs and ESG functions running stakeholder events with mixed media and policy audiences. Audience outcomes A panel that stays on time, on topic and on the record, with sharper answers from senior speakers. A clean editorial through-line that an audience can recall and repeat after the session. Difficult or sensitive questions handled in a way that protects the speaker, the brand and the agenda. A live event that reads at broadcast standard for film crews, sponsors and internal communications teams.

Why organisations work with Rebecca Harding A working command of the machinery of trade finance and trade data, built through founding Coriolis Technologies and serving as Chief Economist at UK Finance, that few geopolitics speakers can match. The author of The World at Economic War, selected by Martin Wolf in his Financial Times best economics books of 2025, with a defined argument about how the market system itself has become a tool of great-power conflict. A current operating role: CEO of the Centre for Economic Security and Chief Economic Adviser to the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group, which puts her inside the institutions building the new trade and security architecture. Equally credible in a C-suite keynote, a regulator-level workshop, or a wargaming session, having designed formats for finance, defence and policy audiences. A specific point of view on sustainable trade and digitalisation, grounded in advisory work with banks, corporates and parliamentary committees rather than in commentary alone. Biography highlights CEO, Centre for Economic Security, leading research on economic threats, supply chain resilience and the weaponisation of trade. Chief Economic Adviser, Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group. Founder and former CEO of Coriolis Technologies, a trade data and analytics business serving the trade finance sector, acquired by TradeSun. Author of The World at Economic War (2025) and co-author of The Weaponization of Trade (2017), published by London Publishing Partnership. Former Chief Economist at UK Finance, Chief Economist at the Work Foundation, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, and Senior Fellow at London Business School. Regular contributor to BBC, Bloomberg, Sky News, CNBC, BBC Radio 4 and Times Radio on trade and economic security. Biography Trade is now a security question. Sanctions regimes, export controls, the digitalisation of payments and the contest over critical minerals have collapsed the old boundary between commercial trade policy and national security. Boards and finance ministries are trying to make capital, supplier and counterparty decisions inside a system whose rules are being rewritten in real time. Rebecca Harding’s career has been built on this seam. She is CEO of the Centre for Economic Security and Chief Economic Adviser to the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank Development Group, two institutions designed for exactly this terrain. Earlier she founded Coriolis Technologies, a trade data and analytics business that gave the trade finance sector a clearer view of risk in cross-border flows, and served as Chief Economist at UK Finance, Chief Economist at the Work Foundation, Head of Corporate Research at Deloitte, and Senior Fellow at London Business School. Her argument is set out in The World at Economic War: How to Rebuild Security in a Weaponized Global Economy, published in 2025 and selected by Martin Wolf in the Financial Times among his best economics books of the year. The thesis, developed from her earlier book The Weaponization of Trade with Jack Harding, is that the market system itself has become a means of great-power competition, and that defence, finance and trade can no longer be governed as separate domains. For senior audiences this matters because the operational consequences are concrete. They show up in supplier dependencies, in sanctions exposure, in the cost and direction of trade finance, and in where capital can credibly be deployed for the next decade. Harding works through those questions with banks, corporates, regulators and parliamentary committees, and her keynotes, panels and wargaming sessions are designed to leave decision-makers with a clearer read of what economic security requires of them. Key speaking topics Economic security and the weaponisation of trade Geopolitics and geoeconomics Trade finance and supply chain finance Supply chain resilience and reshoring Digital and sustainable trade Defence and security finance Macroeconomic outlook and global markets Ideal for Boards and executive committees of banks, insurers and large corporates with cross-border exposure Heads of trade finance, treasury, supply chain and procurement Policy, regulatory and public affairs leaders working on sanctions, export controls and economic security Defence, security and resilience investors and the institutions financing them Audience outcomes A clearer working definition of economic security and what it asks of capital allocation, supplier strategy and trade finance A read on how sanctions, export controls and reshoring are reshaping cross-border risk for specific sectors A framework for separating geopolitical noise from the structural shifts that change long-range plans A view of where digital and sustainable trade infrastructure is heading, and the implications for banks and corporates Questions and pressure tests that a leadership team can take straight into its strategy and risk discussions

Why organisations work with Pippa Malmgren She has sat inside the room where US economic policy is set. As Special Assistant to President George W. Bush on the National Economic Council, she advised on the response to 9/11 from a financial markets and Pentagon technology procurement standpoint, which is a different vantage point from any academic economist. She bridges currency markets and geopolitics in a way few speakers can. She ran Bankers Trust Asset Management in Asia and was Deputy Head of Global Strategy at UBS, which means her geopolitical reads land with FX, fixed income and treasury audiences. She is a working operator, not just a commentator. Co-founding H Robotics, a CogX and National Technology Award winning industrial drone business, gives her a real seat at the table on industrial AI, autonomous systems and the defence-tech investment cycle. Her book The Leadership Lab won UK Business Book of the Year 2019 and her follow-up The Infinite Leader won the International Press Award for Best Book on Leadership 2021, which means leadership-track briefs are met with credentialed material rather than improvisation. She holds a Senior Associate Fellowship at RUSI, the UK defence and security institute, and judges the King’s Awards for Enterprise. Boards using her for geopolitics get an analyst whose reads are taken seriously inside the UK security and industrial establishment. Biography highlights Special Assistant to President George W. Bush on the National Economic Council and member of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. Former Deputy Head of Global Strategy at UBS and head of Bankers Trust Asset Management in Asia. Author of Signals (Weidenfeld and Nicolson), Geopolitics for Investors, The Leadership Lab and The Infinite Leader. Co-founder of H Robotics, winner of the CogX Award for Autonomy and the 2020 National Technology Award. Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a Fellow of the Bertelsmann Stiftung Foundation 2022 to 2024. PhD and MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Biography The job of reading geopolitics for boards used to belong to a small circle of former diplomats and bank chief economists. That circle is no longer wide enough. Currency moves now sit downstream of sanctions decisions, supply chain costs sit downstream of industrial policy, and AI capex sits downstream of export controls. Reading those linkages is a working discipline, not a generalist’s hobby. Malmgren was inside that linkage early. She advised President George W. Bush on the National Economic Council and served on the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, including the post-9/11 work on terrorism risk to the economy and Pentagon technology procurement. Before the White House, she ran Bankers Trust Asset Management in Asia and was Deputy Head of Global Strategy at UBS. The combination of policy seat and trading-floor seat is rare, and it shapes how she briefs. The published work makes the argument visible. Signals reads consumer behaviour, magazine covers and shop fronts as evidence about inflation, social pressure and political risk. The Leadership Lab, co-written with Chris Lewis, won UK Business Book of the Year 2019. The Infinite Leader followed it with the 2021 International Press Award for Best Book on Leadership. None of these are commentator books. They argue specific theses about how decisions get made under volatile conditions. She also runs an operating business in the territory she briefs on. H Robotics, the industrial drone company she co-founded, won the CogX Award for Autonomy and the 2020 National Technology Award. She holds a Senior Associate Fellowship at RUSI, sits on the judging panel of the King’s Awards for Enterprise and was a Fellow of the Bertelsmann Stiftung from 2022 to 2024. When she briefs a board on industrial AI, defence-tech, the new space economy or the strategic-minerals fight, she is briefing as a participant, not a watcher. Key speaking topics Geopolitics and the global economy Macroeconomic volatility and capital allocation Industrial AI, autonomous systems and defence technology Currency markets and inflation signals The new space economy and strategic infrastructure Leadership under conditions of disruption Political risk and sovereign decision-making Ideal for Boards, CEOs and CFOs setting capital allocation policy under sanctions, currency and supply chain pressure. Treasury, FX and asset management leadership teams whose mandates now hinge on geopolitical reads. Strategy and corporate development teams in defence, energy, industrials, semiconductors and infrastructure. Investment committees of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and family offices reassessing global exposure. Audience outcomes A working framework for translating geopolitical events into specific capital, currency and operating consequences. A clearer reading of where US, Chinese and European industrial policy is forcing reallocation of supply chains and capital. Specific signals to track in commodities, currencies and consumer behaviour as leading indicators of macro stress. A grounded view of where AI, autonomous systems and the space economy intersect with national security and corporate strategy. Confidence at board level that geopolitical scenarios have been pressure-tested by someone who has briefed at presidential level.

Why organisations work with Nadine Hani A moderator with genuine financial substance: an MBA from the American University of Beirut and a prior career as a private banking consultant at ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas, before two decades anchoring business news at Al Arabiya. Few hosts on regional stages carry that depth. Interview experience that translates directly to live moderation. She has questioned Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein and Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud on Al Arabiya, and has reported from Davos every year since 2008. Working fluency in Arabic and English with native command of the Arab business landscape, well suited to GCC and pan-regional events where audiences switch between languages and references shift between Wall Street and Riyadh. A track record on the stages where serious money meets policy: confirmed moderator at Future Investment Initiative programmes in Riyadh and at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Biography highlights Senior Business News Presenter at Al Arabiya News Channel; presenter and co-producer of Al Aswaq Al Arabiya. Former business news anchor at CNBC Arabiya, Dubai, and former private banking consultant at ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas in Lebanon. Has interviewed Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein, Robert Zoellick, Michael Eisner and Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Moderator at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh; reporting from Davos annually since 2008. Weekly columnist on financial and economic affairs for An Nahar, Lebanon. MBA, American University of Beirut; Procter & Gamble scholarship recipient. Biography On the stages where finance ministers and global fund managers take questions, the host is often the weakest link. Most are journalists with an introductory grasp of markets, or industry figures who cannot run a room. Hani is one of the few who can do both. She has presented and co-produced Al Aswaq Al Arabiya on Al Arabiya News Channel since 2005, after joining from CNBC Arabiya in Dubai. She also writes a weekly column on financial and economic affairs for An Nahar in Beirut. The work has put her in the chair opposite Henry Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Jamie Dimon, David Rubenstein, Robert Zoellick and Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Her financial fluency was earned before broadcasting. She worked as a private banking consultant at ABN AMRO and BNP Paribas in Lebanon, advising high-net-worth clients on investment alternatives. She holds an MBA from the American University of Beirut, where she was a Procter & Gamble scholarship recipient. On the international circuit, she has reported from Davos every year since 2008. She regularly moderates at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, the annual gathering convened by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. Both events draw the senior investors and policy figures she has spent two decades interviewing. She works fluently in Arabic and English, and is comfortable on either side of the switch when audiences are mixed. Key speaking topics Global markets and economic outlooks Middle East and GCC economic developments Monetary policy and central banks Financial sector and banking Capital flows and sovereign wealth Geopolitics affecting markets Business journalism and financial media Ideal for Investor conferences and capital markets events that need a chair with the financial fluency to question CIOs, fund managers and finance ministers Pan-Arab and GCC corporate gatherings where bilingual moderation in Arabic and English is required Sovereign-fund and policy-led investment forums, including events run on the Future Investment Initiative or Davos model Awards hosting, after-dinner engagements and televised panels where on-camera poise matters as much as command of the subject Audience outcomes Sharper questions for senior leaders, drawn out by a chair who knows where the financial substance lies Programme flow that makes complex economic content accessible without diluting the detail for specialist attendees Bilingual delivery where audiences move between Arabic and English mid-conversation without the room losing thread Discussion that gets past rehearsed talking points and into the issues senior decision-makers actually want addressed

Why organisations work with Mara Balestrini Her governance frameworks are not conceptual – the Bristol Approach and the City Commons Framework (published at ACM CHI 2017) were developed with real institutions, in real urban systems, and have influenced urban data policy beyond their original contexts. Organisations get tested models, not white papers. She has operated at the level of national AI policy, serving as cabinet advisor to Spain’s Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI. That gives her a direct, non-theoretical understanding of how regulatory and governance frameworks are made – and where they typically fall short. Her tenure leading digital transformation and responsible AI at IDB Lab, including the fAIr LAC+ initiative, means she has applied these frameworks inside a multilateral institution managing large-scale technology programmes across 23 countries. The challenges she addresses are not hypothetical. Her research sits at the intersection of HCI, IoT, and responsible AI governance – cited over 1,500 times and recognised by ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, and Ars Electronica. That academic grounding gives organisations the analytical vocabulary to move from AI deployment to AI accountability. As co-founder of SalusCoop, the first Spanish cooperative for citizens’ health data, she has demonstrated that the data governance models she advocates are viable as operating organisations, not just policy positions. Biography highlights PhD in Computer Science, Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable Connected Cities (ICRI-Cities), University College London Former CTO and Digital Transformation Lead, IDB Lab (Inter-American Development Bank Innovation Laboratory); contributor to fAIr LAC+, a dedicated initiative on responsible AI adoption across Latin America and the Caribbean Currently CEO of LNET, the global blockchain infrastructure nonprofit and executing agency for IDB Lab, operating across 23 countries Former cabinet advisor to Spain’s Secretary of State for Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence Former CEO and Partner, Ideas for Change; originator of the City Commons Framework (ACM CHI 2017) and co-developer of the Bristol Approach with Bristol City Council Co-founder, SalusCoop, the first Spanish cooperative for citizens’ health data Over 30 academic publications; 1,584+ citations on Google Scholar; awards from ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, and Ars Electronica Covered by BBC, The Guardian, the Financial Times, and El País; TEDx speaker (TEDxCordoba, 2018); Research Fellow, ESADE EsadeGov Center for Public Governance Biography Mara Balestrini’s core argument is that AI and digital transformation strategies fail not because the technology is wrong, but because the governance is built after the fact, not before. From European Commission-funded research to Spain’s national AI policy office to the Inter-American Development Bank, she has spent two decades building the frameworks to reverse that sequence. Her doctoral work at UCL’s Intel Collaborative Research Institute on Sustainable Connected Cities produced the City Commons Framework, published at ACM CHI 2017 – a model for embedding citizen governance into data-driven systems from the design stage. She co-developed the Bristol Approach with Bristol City Council and KWMC, a commons-based methodology for participatory sensing that reframes smart city investment around citizen priorities rather than technical capability. She also coordinated Making Sense, a European Commission H2020-funded project that turned community-owned environmental sensors into a platform for civic action at scale. From that research base she moved into national policy, serving as cabinet advisor to Spain’s Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI – one of the few HCI researchers to have held a position at that level of government. She then took the role of CTO and Digital Transformation Lead at IDB Lab, where she contributed to fAIr LAC+, the Inter-American Development Bank’s initiative on responsible AI adoption across Latin America and the Caribbean. She is currently CEO of LNET, the global blockchain infrastructure nonprofit that evolved from LACChain and now connects governments, multilateral organisations, and the private sector across 23 countries. Her research, cited over 1,500 times, spans HCI, IoT, and responsible AI governance. It has been recognised by ACM CHI, ACM CSCW, and Ars Electronica, and covered by the BBC, the Financial Times, The Guardian, and El País. Key speaking topics Responsible AI governance and institutional accountability Digital transformation strategy for public and civic institutions Civic technology and citizen participation in technology design Smart cities and urban data governance Data rights and cooperative data models Emerging technology governance (blockchain, Web3) for institutions AI policy and regulation from a practitioner perspective Ideal for Chief Digital Officers and Chief Data Officers navigating AI governance, data strategy, and responsible technology deployment Public sector executives and government leads managing AI policy, digital transformation, or regulatory frameworks Boards and senior leadership teams weighing institutional accountability in large-scale AI or data programmes Transformation leads and innovation directors in multilateral organisations, development banks, or international institutions Audience outcomes A working distinction between AI deployment and AI governance, and why confusing the two produces predictable failures at scale Familiarity with tested, named governance frameworks (Bristol Approach, City Commons Framework, fAIr LAC+) that can be adapted beyond urban or government contexts A clearer understanding of where current AI and digital transformation strategies most commonly break down, and what designing governance in from the start actually looks like in practice An informed view of how national AI policy is being shaped, drawn from direct government advisory experience rather than secondary analysis Practical reference points for designing responsible AI strategies that are accountable to stakeholders before they are deployed, not after