Political Risk & Policy

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 Tabitha Goldstaub She chaired the UK Government’s AI Council for five years – a formal, operational appointment made by two Secretaries of State – which means she understands AI governance from the inside of the policy process, not from commentary on it. Her book How to Talk to Robots (HarperCollins, 2020) made a specific and publicly documented argument: that AI systems inherit the biases of those who build them, and that who governs AI is a governance question, not a diversity exercise. The argument travels directly into boardroom and leadership settings. As co-founder and Festival Director of CogX – which grew to 6,500 delegates and over 370 speakers at its peak – she has an unusually accurate read on how organisations across sectors are actually navigating AI adoption, rather than how they say they are. She sits on the board of Luminate, the international organisation focused on ensuring Big Tech and AI platforms respect human rights – giving her live insight into how civil society and regulators are evaluating the conduct of AI companies. Biography highlights Former Chair, UK Government’s AI Council (2018–2023); appointed AI Business Champion by the Secretary of State for DCMS MBE in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to the artificial intelligence sector Author of How to Talk to Robots (HarperCollins, 2020); reviewed in the Financial Times Co-founder and Festival Director of CogX, which grew to 6,500 delegates and 370+ speakers Co-founder of Rightster (now Brave Bison), which floated for £20.4 million in 2013 Amy Johnson Inspiration Award, Women’s Engineering Society, 2018 Named in Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in Technology (2023) and London Evening Standard Progress 1000 Board member, Luminate; Non-Executive Director, Innovate Cambridge Biography Boards are being asked to sign off on significant AI investment while carrying little of the institutional knowledge needed to govern it responsibly. Tabitha Goldstaub MBE chaired the UK Government’s AI Council from 2018 to 2023 – the expert body that advised government on national AI strategy, responsible adoption, and societal impact. That appointment, made by two Secretaries of State, put her at the operational centre of the UK’s AI policy architecture at the moment it was being built. Her book How to Talk to Robots (HarperCollins, 2020), reviewed in the Financial Times, made a specific argument: that AI systems inherit the biases of those who design and govern them, and that widening who holds those roles is not a diversity initiative but a governance imperative. The Women’s Engineering Society gave her its Amy Johnson Inspiration Award in 2018 for advancing that case through her public roles. As co-founder and Festival Director of CogX, she built one of Europe’s largest annual AI leadership summits – growing it from 1,500 delegates at its founding in 2017 to over 6,500 in 2018, with more than 370 speakers on programme. That scale gave her a consistently clear view of where organisations across sectors are actually struggling with AI adoption, as distinct from the positions they present publicly. She now serves on the board of Luminate – the international organisation working to ensure that Big Tech and AI platforms respect human rights – and as Non-Executive Director of Innovate Cambridge. Named in Computer Weekly’s Most Influential Women in Technology in 2023, she is one of the few speakers in this space who has operated across government policy, commercial technology, and civil society governance at the same time. Key speaking topics AI governance and organisational accountability Responsible AI and ethics in practice AI policy and the regulatory landscape AI bias, inclusion, and structural risk Leadership decision-making in the age of AI Building AI literacy at board and executive level Technology entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems Ideal for Boards and audit or risk committees developing AI governance frameworks C-suite and senior leadership teams setting or reviewing AI strategy Public sector and regulated industry leaders navigating emerging AI policy Technology and digital transformation leads in organisations deploying AI at scale Audience outcomes A clearer framework for understanding what responsible AI adoption requires at leadership and governance level Greater confidence discussing AI accountability with technical teams, regulators, and boards Practical understanding of the policy and regulatory environment shaping AI deployment in the UK and Europe Sharper awareness of where AI bias risks arise and what governance mechanisms are available to address them Context for evaluating AI proposals, investments, or vendor relationships with more informed scrutiny

Why organisations work with Linda Mabhena-Olagunju She has actually built and operates a 244MW utility-scale wind farm in the Northern Cape, not advised on one. Her authority on the energy transition comes from owning the asset, raising the capital, and running it. A legal foundation in oil and gas law from Aberdeen, applied to renewable energy operations in Africa. That sequence gives her a sharper view than most operators on how regulation, project finance, and offtake contracts actually shape what gets built. Direct line of sight on what local ownership looks like in practice. DLO acquired the engineering services and operations capability behind its plants, making it the rare African IPP with both equity and technical control. Sits at the table where African energy policy is shaped: advisor to South Africa’s Minister of Energy, University of Oxford International Advisory Board, founder of the DLO Africa Power Roundtable. Recognised by named bodies, not bureau hype: Choiseul 100 (multi-year), Forbes Woman Africa, CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Award, Veuve Clicquot. Biography highlights Founder and CEO, DLO Energy Resources Group, owner and operator of a 244MW wind farm in South Africa’s Northern Cape. LLB, University of Cape Town (Dean’s Merit List); LLM in International Commercial Law with oil and gas specialisation, University of Aberdeen (First Class). Admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. Member of the University of Oxford International Advisory Board since 2018. External contributor to Institut Montaigne on African energy and infrastructure. Recognition: Choiseul 100 Africa Economic Leaders for Tomorrow (multi-year); Forbes Woman Africa Best Emerging Entrepreneur; CNBC All Africa Business Leaders Award; Veuve Clicquot Businesswomen Award; Oprah Power List of 20 most powerful women in Africa. Biography Africa’s renewable energy build-out is shaped less by technology than by who can hold a project together long enough to reach financial close. DLO Energy Resources Group, founded by Linda Mabhena-Olagunju and now the operator of a 244MW wind farm in the Northern Cape, is one of the few independent power producers on the continent that owns both the equity and the engineering capability behind its assets. Her route into the sector is unusual. She read law at the University of Cape Town, then took an LLM in International Commercial Law at Aberdeen with a specialism in oil and gas. She is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. That legal grounding, in the contracts and regulation that govern energy projects, is what allowed DLO to acquire an EPC and O&M operation and bring operational control in-house, a step most African IPPs never take. The recognition has followed the work, not the other way round. The Choiseul 100 has listed her among Africa’s economic leaders of tomorrow across multiple years. Forbes Woman Africa named her Best Emerging Entrepreneur; CNBC named her Young Business Leader for Southern Africa. She sits on the University of Oxford International Advisory Board, contributes to Institut Montaigne on African energy policy, and advises the South African Minister of Energy. For audiences working on energy transition strategy, climate-related disclosures, or capital allocation to emerging markets, she is one of the very small group who can describe the path from policy ambition to a generating asset, with the receipts to back it up. Key speaking topics Africa’s energy transition Renewable energy project finance and ownership Independent power producers in emerging markets Local content and black ownership in energy Women in energy and infrastructure Climate policy and capital allocation in Africa Ideal for Boards and investment committees with African or emerging-market energy exposure CFOs, treasury, and capital allocators reviewing climate transition strategy Energy, utilities, and infrastructure executives planning African projects DEI sponsors and women-in-leadership programmes in capital-intensive sectors Audience outcomes A clearer picture of what it takes for an African renewable project to reach financial close, told by someone who has done it. A working understanding of where policy ambition on energy transition diverges from project finance reality on the continent. Concrete answers on how local ownership, EPC control, and offtake structures change the economics of a generation asset. A sharper view of where African renewable capacity is actually being built, by whom, and at what cost of capital.

Why organisations work with Carlo Cottarelli Led the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department for five years, the team that provides roughly half of the Fund’s technical assistance to governments worldwide on public finance. Created and developed the IMF’s Fiscal Monitor, one of three flagship IMF publications that now shape global conversation on sovereign debt and fiscal sustainability. Represented Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal and San Marino on the IMF Executive Board, so he has sat in the room when major sovereign decisions were debated and signed off. Served as Italy’s Commissioner for Public Spending Reform under Prime Ministers Letta and Renzi, with operational experience of what government actually has to do to cut public expenditure. Received a presidential mandate to form an Italian government during the 2018 political crisis, giving his analysis of fiscal populism a standpoint few economists share. Biography highlights Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department at the International Monetary Fund, 2008 to 2013. Commissioner for Public Spending Reform in Italy under the Letta and Renzi governments. Executive Director on the IMF Executive Board for Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal and San Marino. Prime Minister-designate of Italy in May 2018, appointed by President Sergio Mattarella. Director of the Observatory on Italian Public Accounts at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan. Senator of the Italian Republic for the Democratic Party (Lombardy), elected 2022. Author of What We Owe: Truths, Myths, and Lies about Public Debt (Brookings Institution Press) and of six Feltrinelli titles in Italian on debt and economic policy. Biography On 28 May 2018, President Sergio Mattarella asked Carlo Cottarelli to form a caretaker government in Italy. The attempt did not hold. But the moment mattered, because it placed a career economist at the centre of a political crisis driven by fiscal credibility. That kind of placement is not accidental. For almost thirty years Cottarelli worked at the International Monetary Fund, and from 2008 to 2013 he directed its Fiscal Affairs Department. Under his leadership the team created the Fiscal Monitor, one of the IMF’s three flagship publications, which now shapes global thinking on sovereign debt and budget discipline. He later returned to the Fund as Executive Director for Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal and San Marino. Between those two IMF chapters, Italy made him Commissioner for Public Spending Reform under the Letta and Renzi governments. The Italian press called him Mr Scissors. He spent a year inside government trying to turn fiscal analysis into actual cuts, and came away with direct experience of where reform stalls and why. He directs the Observatory on Italian Public Accounts at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, where he also leads the Programme for Education in Economic and Social Sciences. He was elected Senator for the Democratic Party in 2022 and has taught Fiscal Macroeconomics at Bocconi. With Brookings Institution Press he has published What We Owe: Truths, Myths, and Lies about Public Debt. With Feltrinelli he has written six widely read Italian volumes on debt and public spending. Key speaking topics Sovereign debt and fiscal sustainability Public spending reform European economic governance International monetary institutions Macroeconomic policy Italian public finance Fiscal credibility and political risk Ideal for Boards and senior leadership of financial institutions with exposure to European sovereign debt CFOs and treasury teams of multinationals making capital allocation decisions across eurozone markets Government and central bank audiences working on fiscal policy and public financial management Audience outcomes A sharper picture of which European economies face real fiscal pressure and which are politically overstating it A read on how the IMF, ECB and major finance ministries actually think about debt sustainability, beyond the headlines An honest account of what public spending reform looks like from inside government, including what stops it A working knowledge of the fiscal variables that matter most for corporate and financial decisions in Europe

Why organisations work with Alec Ross He has advised both a US Secretary of State and a global venture capital firm on the same question: where power is moving as technology, capital and national interest collide. Boards get a single read across all three. The Industries of the Future sold into 24 languages and remains a reference text for executive teams framing long-range technology strategy. That gives him a shared vocabulary with global leadership audiences before he opens his mouth. The Raging 2020s offers a specific thesis, not a survey: the social contract between government, business and citizens is broken, and companies that misread the rebalancing will lose licence to operate. Leaders leave with a framework for where regulatory and political risk is actually heading. He built and sat inside the first serious technology policy function at the State Department, then moved to the investor side at Amplo. He speaks to both the regulator’s logic and the cap table’s logic, which most commentators cannot. Named to Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers and awarded the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award. Credentials buyers can cite when justifying the booking internally. Biography highlights Senior Advisor for Innovation to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 2009 to 2013, in a role created specifically to modernise the practice of diplomacy. Author of two New York Times bestsellers: The Industries of the Future (Simon and Schuster, 2016) and The Raging 2020s (Henry Holt, 2021). Distinguished Professor at the Business School of the University of Bologna; previously Distinguished Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and Senior Fellow at Columbia SIPA. Board Partner at Amplo, a global venture capital firm, with director roles across technology, finance, manufacturing, human capital and cybersecurity companies. Co-founder of One Economy, a nonprofit that expanded broadband access for low-income households before broadband policy was a political issue. Named to Foreign Policy magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers and holder of the US Department of State Distinguished Honor Award. Biography The Senior Advisor for Innovation job at the State Department did not exist before 2009. It was built for Alec Ross, who spent four years travelling to forty-one countries turning emerging technology into an instrument of US foreign policy under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That mandate, sitting at the join between diplomacy, national security and the technology industry, is the lens he has brought to every role since. The Industries of the Future, published in 2016, mapped the sectors he believed would reorganise the global economy over the following decade: robotics, genomics, the commercialisation of data, the weaponisation of code. It sold into 24 languages and became a fixture on executive reading lists. The Raging 2020s, published in 2021, moved the argument on. The question is no longer which technologies win. The question is whether the contract between governments, companies and citizens holds, and what companies do when it does not. Ross now teaches at the University of Bologna Business School and sits as a Board Partner at the venture capital firm Amplo, with director seats across technology, finance, manufacturing and cybersecurity. He reads a regulatory brief the way a former diplomat does and a growth plan the way an investor does, and has held both jobs in earnest. What that produces for a leadership audience is judgement on questions that sit above the CTO and below the board: where the geopolitical weather is turning, which regulatory frames are about to land, which technology bets will still make sense when the politics catches up. Foreign Policy named him to its Top 100 Global Thinkers for a reason specific to this moment. Very few commentators have worked the diplomatic side, the commercial side and the academic side of the same argument. Key speaking topics Geopolitics of technology and the US to China contest The social contract between governments, companies and citizens Artificial intelligence, data and national competitiveness Cybersecurity as a board-level risk Regulation, antitrust and the future licence to operate Long-range industry disruption and capital allocation Innovation policy and the future of work Ideal for Boards and executive committees setting multi-year technology and geopolitical strategy CEOs, CSOs and heads of government affairs briefing for regulatory inflection points Financial services, technology and industrial leadership teams exposed to US, EU and China policy divergence Conferences convening CEOs, policymakers and investors on the intersection of technology and state power Audience outcomes A sharper read on where regulation, capital and public sentiment are pushing the next decade of technology strategy. A working framework for pricing political and geopolitical risk inside commercial decisions. Named examples of how governments, companies and citizens are renegotiating the social contract, and the implications for licence to operate. A clearer view of which technology sectors are concentrating power, and where corporate strategy has to adjust. An investor and policymaker’s dual perspective on the same question, translated for operators.

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

Why organisations work with Dan Sobovitz Five years inside the cabinet of a European Commission Vice-President, writing speeches and running digital for the institution that regulates much of Europe’s technology agenda. That is a view of how policy communication actually works that external consultants rarely have. Runs spreadable.io, the agency behind interactive programmes for the European Commission, European Parliament, UNESCO, Michelin, Groupe RATP, and Viva Tech. Clients hire him when a standard panel format will not hold the room. Chief communications role at the European Startup Prize for Mobility, Europe’s largest acceleration programme for clean mobility startups, gives him a working feed of what is actually happening in European mobility and climate tech rather than a reading of it. Hosts and moderates in English and French across tech, mobility, and sustainability events including Viva Tech, ChangeNow, and Michelin’s Movin’On Challenge, with a hosting style built around live audience interaction rather than scripted Q and A. Civil society work through DemoCrisis and Fondation Ceci n’est pas une crise gives him a serious, non-promotional voice on how digital platforms are changing democratic participation. Biography highlights Founder and CEO, spreadable.io, Brussels Chief Communications Officer, European Startup Prize for Mobility Senior Adviser, Digital Communications, BCW Former speechwriter and digital communications strategist, cabinet of European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic TEDx speaker, “Can technology make democracy great again?” (TEDxAUEB) MA, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs; MPP, Hertie School of Governance Biography Inside the European Commission, the problem was not a shortage of policy. It was that the policy was not reaching anyone outside Brussels. Dan Sobovitz spent five years in the cabinet of Vice-President Maros Sefcovic working on exactly that, writing speeches and running digital channels that tried to turn technical EU work into something recognisable to citizens, journalists, and founders. The methods were unusual for an institution. Live interactive interviews from a self-driving car. VR footage of EU satellites going into orbit. Crowdsourcing policy input from youth and climate activists through digital platforms. Live audience voting at EU startup pitches. Most of it came out of a single idea: the Commission had interesting things to say and was burying them under procedural language. He now runs spreadable.io, the interactive-events agency he founded after leaving the Commission, with clients including the European Parliament, UNESCO, Michelin, Groupe RATP, and Viva Tech. Alongside this he is Chief Communications Officer at the European Startup Prize for Mobility, the EU’s largest acceleration programme for clean mobility startups, and a Senior Adviser on Digital Communications at BCW. His civic work through DemoCrisis and Fondation Ceci n’est pas une crise addresses a narrower question that runs under everything else he does: what happens to democratic participation when the public conversation moves onto platforms none of the participants control. He writes and speaks on that question in English and French, and has given a TEDx talk, “Can technology make democracy great again?” Key speaking topics Digital communications and institutional storytelling Technology, democracy, and civic participation Sustainable mobility and clean transport innovation European startup ecosystems and innovation policy Interactive conference formats and audience engagement Public policy communication in the age of platforms Ideal for Corporate and institutional communications leaders rethinking how they talk about technology and regulation Innovation, mobility, and sustainability programmes looking for a bilingual host who can run a serious technical room Public affairs and policy teams operating at the EU level CEO and C-suite audiences planning flagship innovation or transformation events Audience outcomes A sharper read on how European institutions and corporates are actually communicating technology and policy, and where that is breaking down Concrete examples of formats that move an audience out of passive listening, drawn from live EU and corporate programmes A working understanding of how the European clean mobility and startup landscape fits together across Commission, Parliament, and industry A more honest view of what digital platforms are doing to public debate and what institutions can do about it

Why organisations work with Robert Mazur Twenty-seven years across IRS Criminal Investigation, US Customs and the DEA gives him a breadth of federal financial-crime experience that is rare in the speaker circuit and specifically relevant to banking and regulated audiences. Operation C-Chase, his two-year undercover infiltration of Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering network and BCCI, one of the largest private banks in the world at the time, is one of the most studied financial-crime cases in history, and it is his case to tell. The Infiltrator, his New York Times bestseller, was adapted into a 2016 feature film starring Bryan Cranston, which gives audiences a shared cultural reference point before the session begins. His court certification as a money-laundering expert in the US and Canada means his material holds up in front of compliance, legal and risk audiences who will test it against their own casework. He combines war-story delivery with technical specificity, which is useful for organisations that need to energise a compliance programme without sacrificing the substance. Biography highlights Former US federal agent, 27-year career across IRS Criminal Investigation, US Customs Service and DEA Led Operation C-Chase, the mid-1980s undercover investigation of Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering network and BCCI Undercover alias «Robert Musella» for two years inside a $20 billion global banking fraud Court-certified money-laundering expert in the United States and Canada Author of The Infiltrator, New York Times bestseller, adapted into a 2016 feature film starring Bryan Cranston Author of second memoir The Betrayal Biography The Bank of Credit and Commerce International had $20 billion in assets and operations across more than 70 countries when Robert Mazur, posing as New Jersey businessman «Robert Musella», spent two years inside its money-laundering operations. Operation C-Chase, the US government infiltration he led, ultimately produced one of the most consequential financial-crime prosecutions of the twentieth century and the collapse of BCCI itself. The same investigation reached Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel, which was using the bank to move drug proceeds through the global financial system. His route to that case was a 27-year federal career that ran through IRS Criminal Investigation, the US Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Mazur is court-certified as a money-laundering expert in both the United States and Canada, which gives his analysis the standing to be cited in compliance programmes rather than simply admired in a keynote. The public record of the work is extensive. The Infiltrator, his bestselling memoir, was adapted into the 2016 feature film of the same name starring Bryan Cranston. His second memoir, The Betrayal, continues the inside account of how undercover operations against narcotics and money launderers are actually run, and where institutional complicity makes them possible. For global banks, compliance functions, regulators, law-enforcement audiences and corporate risk teams, the value proposition is direct. Mazur does not speak about financial crime; he speaks as someone whose work closed one of the largest laundering operations in financial history. The sessions combine the specific mechanics of how criminal networks move money with a clear-eyed view of what banks consistently fail to catch, and why. Key speaking topics Money laundering and the anatomy of financial crime Undercover investigations and infiltration methodology Banking compliance, AML and the weaknesses professional launderers exploit Drug cartels, organised crime and the global financial system Lessons from the BCCI and Pablo Escobar investigations Risk, governance and executive accountability for financial crime Ideal for Global banks, payment firms and fintech leadership teams strengthening financial-crime programmes Compliance, risk, audit and governance functions running internal training or board briefings Financial services regulators, supervisors and law-enforcement audiences Corporate risk leadership teams and boards exposed to financial-crime reputational risk Audience outcomes A detailed, first-hand view of how professional money launderers assess and exploit banking institutions Specific mechanisms used in the BCCI and Pablo Escobar cases, framed for modern compliance audiences A clearer read of where current AML and KYC approaches still fall short Practical prompts for internal programme design drawn from undercover investigative experience A reference point in The Infiltrator that leadership teams can share with wider compliance staff

Why organisations work with Carrie Gracie Two decades reporting from inside China, including the role of BBC News’ first China Editor based in Beijing, give her a read on Party politics and economic policy that few Western commentators can match. She translates Chinese political signals into the questions a board actually needs to answer: market access, supply chain exposure, regulatory direction, and the real shape of the US-China contest. Her Peabody-winning “White Horse Village” reporting, a decade-long series tracking one community through China’s modernisation, is evidence of the long-horizon judgement she brings to shorter-cycle corporate questions. On a separate brief, her public resignation from the BBC over unequal pay, and the £361,000 settlement she donated to the Fawcett Society and Equal Pay Advice Service, make her one of the few speakers who has forced structural change at a named employer and can talk about it first-hand. She is a working broadcaster, not an academic: she handles live Q&A with senior audiences, difficult journalists, and hostile questions with the composure of someone who has presented BBC News on air for over a decade. Biography highlights Former BBC News China Editor (2013 to 2018), based in Beijing, and the first person to hold that role 33-year career at the BBC as correspondent, presenter, and editor, including Beijing bureau chief and presenter of BBC News Channel and the BBC World Service programme “The Interview” Peabody Award for the “White Horse Village” documentary series following a Chinese village through a decade of modernisation Author of “Equal: A Story of Women, Men and Money” (Virago, Little Brown) Resigned as BBC China Editor in January 2018 over unequal pay; the BBC issued a public apology and back pay settlement, which she donated in full (£361,000) to the Fawcett Society and the Equal Pay Advice Service Educated at Hertford College, Oxford (PPE) and the University of Westminster (BA Chinese); honorary graduate of the University of Exeter (2022) Biography The BBC’s first China Editor was appointed in 2013 and based in Beijing. The job was created because Western news organisations had concluded that China could no longer be covered as a regional story. Carrie Gracie held that role until January 2018, and she had already been reporting from China, on and off, for more than twenty years before it was given to her. Her reporting record in the country is unusually long for a Western journalist. She taught English and economics in Yantai and Chongqing in the mid-1980s, before joining the BBC. She covered the death of Deng Xiaoping, the 1997 Hong Kong handover, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her “White Horse Village” series, which tracked a single village in Chongqing through a decade of displacement and rebuilding, won a Peabody Award for the way it read national policy through one community. That long-horizon approach is what senior audiences draw on now. She reads Chinese political and economic signals with the eye of a reporter who has watched Party congresses, five-year plans, and leadership transitions over multiple cycles. For boards exposed to Chinese markets or supply chains, this is closer to intelligence than commentary. She has a second, distinct body of work. In January 2018 she resigned as China Editor after learning that male international editors were paid substantially more for equivalent jobs. The BBC apologised publicly, backdated her pay, and Gracie donated the full £361,000 to the Fawcett Society and the Equal Pay Advice Service. Her book “Equal: A Story of Women, Men and Money” (Virago) is the account of that case and what it took to force an institution to move. Key speaking topics China’s political direction under Xi Jinping US-China strategic competition Geopolitical risk for boards and supply chains Chinese economy and market access Media, free speech, and authoritarian states Gender pay equality and institutional accountability Equal pay as a governance issue Ideal for Boards and executive committees with significant exposure to China or Asia-Pacific markets CROs, general counsel, and strategy leads pressure-testing geopolitical scenarios CHROs and reward committees reviewing pay equity, transparency, and disclosure practice Leadership audiences at financial services, industrial, technology, and consumer firms navigating the US-China contest Audience outcomes A clearer read on how Beijing makes decisions and what that means for the next three to five years of market access and regulatory risk A sharper set of questions to take into the next board or strategy review on China exposure An unvarnished account of how pay inequality survives inside a high-profile, regulated employer, and what actually shifted the institution A working journalist’s framework for distinguishing signal from noise in Chinese state communications Confidence to brief non-specialist colleagues on the commercial stakes of the US-China relationship

Why organisations work with Udo Lielischkies First-hand interpretation of Putin’s regime from a journalist who reported on it continuously from 1999 to 2018, including six years running ARD’s Moscow studio. A reading of Russia grounded in the provinces, not Moscow press briefings, drawn from years travelling beyond the capital and documented in “Im Schatten des Kreml”, reprinted four times since 2019. Editorial credibility recognised by the Deutscher Fernsehpreis, with a win for Best Reportage in 2004 and a Monte Carlo nomination in 2015 for reporting from eastern Ukraine. A senior journalist’s instinct for separating Kremlin signal from Kremlin noise, useful when boards are deciding what a Putin statement, sanction round, or escalation actually means for exposure and planning. Biography highlights Head of ARD studio Moscow, 2014 to 2018, for Germany’s largest public broadcaster. ARD correspondent in Moscow (1999 to 2006), Washington D.C. (2006 to 2012) and Moscow again (2012 to 2018), with an earlier Brussels and NATO posting from 1994. Author of “Im Schatten des Kreml: Unterwegs in Putins Russland”, Droemer Knaur, 2019, English rights title “In the Shadow of the Kremlin”. Winner of the German Television Award (Deutscher Fernsehpreis) 2004 for Best Reportage, “Kremlin, Prison and Corruption” (ARD/WDR). Further recognitions include the Golden Gong (1999), the Ernst Schneider Prize (1989), a Moscow festival special prize (2005) and a Monte Carlo Television Festival nomination (2015) for reporting on the war in Ukraine. Regular guest on German political programming (NDR, phoenix, ARD talk shows) on Russia, Ukraine and the Kremlin’s foreign policy. Biography The Kremlin is now a fixed entry on most board risk registers, alongside China, energy and supply chains. What boards struggle to source is interpretation of the regime that goes beyond headlines and beyond Western analyst convention. That is the gap Udo Lielischkies fills. For nearly 25 years he reported for ARD, Germany’s largest public broadcaster, across the three capitals that have defined the post-Cold War order: Brussels and NATO from 1994, Moscow from 1999, Washington D.C. from 2006, and Moscow again from 2012, where he ran ARD’s studio from 2014 until his retirement in 2018. He watched Putin’s arrival as an unknown FSB veteran and reported continuously through every phase that followed. His book “Im Schatten des Kreml: Unterwegs in Putins Russland” (Droemer Knaur, 2019) is the durable record of that work. It is now in its fourth edition and is widely read as having anticipated the trajectory that led to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The English-language edition, “In the Shadow of the Kremlin”, is offered through Droemer Knaur’s rights catalogue. The reporting that underpins the book also produced his 2004 German Television Award for Best Reportage and a 2015 Monte Carlo Television Festival nomination for “The Murderous War in Ukraine – Escape From Ilovajsk”. What this gives a serious audience is rare. Not a geopolitical taxonomy delivered in the abstract, but the texture of a system explained by someone who lived inside it: how Kremlin power actually moves, how Russian provinces read the war, where the regime is brittle and where it is not. For organisations exposed to Russia, Ukraine, sanctions regimes, or the wider authoritarian bloc, that texture matters more than another forecast. Key speaking topics Putin’s Russia and the architecture of the regime The war in Ukraine and Kremlin strategy Geopolitical risk for Western boards Authoritarian regimes and the rules-based order Russia, Europe and the United States: shifting alliances Inside the Kremlin: power, succession, propaganda Ideal for Boards and executive committees with direct or indirect exposure to Russia, Ukraine, the CIS or sanctions regimes CROs, heads of geopolitical risk, and corporate affairs leads briefing senior leadership on Kremlin scenarios Industry conferences in energy, defence, financial services and logistics where Russia exposure remains material Public-sector and policy audiences working on European security, transatlantic relations and the war in Ukraine Audience outcomes A clearer picture of how Kremlin decision-making actually works, beyond Western media framing A grounded sense of where the regime is fragile, where it is not, and what that means for the next phase of the war Sharper questions to put to internal Russia and CIS exposure analysis A view of the Russian provinces, not only Moscow, and why that distinction shapes outcomes Context for reading future Kremlin statements, sanction rounds and escalation signals with less noise

Why organisations work with Lord Chris Holmes He is the peer behind the Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill, giving boards a direct read on the likely shape of UK AI legislation rather than a second-hand interpretation of it. He co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Fintech, AI, Blockchain, Assistive Technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, so he sees the full policy stack in one view. His authored Cabinet Office review and his 2017 DLT for Public Good report give him a track record of turning parliamentary inquiry into usable policy recommendations, not just speeches. He ran Paralympic Integration for London 2012, a programme delivered on a fixed date with global scrutiny, which grounds his technology arguments in large-scale operational delivery. Inclusion sits inside his technology argument, not beside it, so a single session covers AI governance and the workforce implications without stitching two speakers together. Biography highlights Life peer in the House of Lords since 2013, sitting as Baron Holmes of Richmond. Sponsor of the Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill [HL], which had its second reading in March 2024 with cross-party support from over 20 peers. Member of the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee; previously served on the AI, Democracy and Digital Technologies, Financial Exclusion, Social Mobility and Digital Skills committees. Co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Fintech, AI, Blockchain, Assistive Technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Director of Paralympic Integration for London 2012; Britain’s most successful Paralympic swimmer with nine golds, five silvers and one bronze across four Games. MBE (1993); honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Bath (2012); inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame. Biography The UK has been trying to decide what kind of AI regulator it wants to be. Lord Chris Holmes has been writing a specific answer to that question inside the House of Lords, most visibly through his Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill, which received its second reading in March 2024 with support from more than twenty peers across party lines. He sits on the House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee and has previously served on the committees for Artificial Intelligence, Democracy and Digital Technologies, Financial Exclusion, Social Mobility and Digital Skills. That run of committee work, alongside co-chairing parliamentary groups on Fintech, Blockchain, Assistive Technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution, gives him an unusually wide view of how technology policy is being written across Westminster. Before the Lords, he was Director of Paralympic Integration for London 2012, responsible for making the Paralympics work at the scale of the Olympic Games. The programme hit a fixed date with worldwide visibility, and it informs how he talks about delivering complex technology and inclusion agendas under pressure. His authored work includes the Cabinet Office review on opening public appointments to disabled people and the 2017 report on distributed ledger technologies for public good. For a board trying to understand what AI governance, digital assets and inclusive design will mean in practice, he offers a view formed by drafting the law itself. Key speaking topics AI regulation and governance Fintech and the future of financial services The Fourth Industrial Revolution Distributed ledger technology and digital assets Inclusive technology and accessibility by design Diversity and inclusion in the workforce Leadership lessons from elite sport Delivering large-scale public programmes Ideal for Board and executive committee sessions on AI strategy, governance and regulatory exposure. CTOs, CIOs and heads of policy in banking, insurance and payments navigating fintech and digital asset rules. CHROs and inclusion leads connecting workforce strategy to accessible technology design. Public sector and regulated-industry leadership teams preparing for UK AI legislation. Audience outcomes A clearer view of how UK AI regulation is likely to evolve and what that means for current technology investment decisions. A specific sense of where fintech, digital assets and assistive technology policy are converging. Practical reference points for building inclusion into product and workforce decisions, rather than treating it as a separate workstream. A memorable throughline from elite performance to policy design that leadership teams can use internally.

Why organisations work with Linda Yueh A published framework for spotting and mitigating financial crashes, drawn from her book The Great Crashes and applied directly to board-level risk and capital allocation conversations. Sitting non-executive director on three FTSE 100 boards (Rentokil Initial, SEGRO, Standard Chartered), which means she reads the macro picture the way a director has to read it, not the way a commentator does. Direct working experience with the World Bank, European Commission, Asian Development Bank and the UK Treasury review panel, which lets her translate policy direction into commercial implication. A China specialism with academic depth: D.Phil. economics at Oxford, former Visiting Professor of Economics at Peking University, and author of China’s Growth: The Making of an Economic Superpower (Oxford University Press). Broadcaster’s instinct for clarity, sharpened by years as Chief Business Correspondent for BBC News and Economics Editor at Bloomberg Television, so the analysis lands with a non-specialist audience. Biography highlights Fellow in Economics, St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, and Adjunct Professor of Economics, London Business School. CBE for Services to Economics, King’s New Year’s Honours List 2023. Author/editor of 11 books, including The Great Crashes (Penguin Business), selected by the Financial Times as one of the Best New Books in Economics. Non-Executive Director of Rentokil Initial, SEGRO, and Standard Chartered; Chair of Baillie Gifford’s Schiehallion Fund. Former Chief Business Correspondent, BBC News, presenting Talking Business with Linda Yueh; former Economics Editor, Bloomberg Television. Associate Fellow, Chatham House; columnist for The Times, the Financial Times and The New York Times; advisor to the World Economic Forum, World Bank, European Commission and Asian Development Bank. Biography The financial crashes of the past forty years all rhyme. Currency crises in the 1980s, Japan’s housing bust, the dot-com unwind, 2008 and the pandemic each followed a recognisable arc, and in The Great Crashes: Lessons from Global Meltdowns and How to Prevent Them, Linda Yueh sets out a three-step framework that boards and policymakers can use to read the early signals. Penguin Business published it in 2023 and the Financial Times selected it as one of its Best New Books in Economics. The analysis is grounded in serious academic work. Yueh holds a D.Phil. in economics from the University of Oxford, where she is Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, and she is Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School. Her earlier book The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today was named one of The Times’s Business Books of the Year, and the US edition was a Newsweek Best Book of the Year. China’s Growth: The Making of an Economic Superpower was published by Oxford University Press. What separates her from most academic economists is the directness of her commercial vantage point. She sits as a non-executive director on the boards of Rentokil Initial, SEGRO and Standard Chartered, and chairs Baillie Gifford’s Schiehallion Fund Ltd. She has advised the World Bank, the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank, the World Economic Forum and the UK Treasury review panel, and she is an Associate Fellow of Chatham House. She communicates for a living. As Chief Business Correspondent for BBC News she hosted Talking Business with Linda Yueh, and before that she was Economics Editor at Bloomberg Television. She writes regularly for The Times, the Financial Times and The New York Times. In 2023 she was appointed CBE for Services to Economics. Key speaking topics Global economic outlook and macroeconomic risk Financial crashes and crisis prevention China’s economic rise and US-China-Europe relations Geopolitics, trade and the global rules-based order Currency markets and financial stability Economic ideas and policy innovation Ideal for Board and audit committee sessions on macro risk, capital allocation and crisis preparedness Executive offsites for FTSE 100, FTSE 250 and large privately held firms with material China or emerging-market exposure Investor conferences and asset management forums needing a credible economist on global outlook CFO, treasury and risk leadership audiences working through currency, rate cycle and political risk decisions Audience outcomes A working read on where the global economy is in the cycle and which signals matter for the next twelve to thirty-six months A structured way to think about the early indicators of financial crises, drawn from a published historical framework A clearer view of China’s growth trajectory and the commercial consequences of US, EU and UK policy responses Confidence to take that view back into a board or investment committee and defend it