Scenario Planning & Strategic Foresight

Why organisations work with Aljan de Boer A structured research model, not trend commentary. TrendsActive’s trend model draws on two decades of social science research – psychology, sociology, anthropology – to convert cultural signals into strategic implications. Audiences receive a framework, not a list of observations. Direct access to what 400+ CMOs are actually doing. As Community Director at the Institute for Real Growth, de Boer works inside a practitioner network of senior marketing leaders navigating the same pressures he describes. His insight is tested against real decisions, not desk research. The IRG Growth and Impact Studies as evidence base. His talk on humanized growth draws on two large-scale global studies produced by IRG in partnership with the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford – giving commercial teams a peer-reviewed foundation for strategies that go beyond shareholder primacy. Translation from complexity to commercial action. Where other trend speakers describe what is happening, de Boer’s focus is on what organisations should do about it – specifically for brand strategy, customer understanding, and growth planning at C-suite level. Named-brand consulting experience behind the research. TrendsActive’s client list includes Disney, Vodafone, and Hugo Boss – organisations where the same analytical approach has been stress-tested against real strategic choices. Biography highlights Head of Inspiration, TrendsActive – Netherlands-based trend consultancy applying social science to brand and business strategy Community Director, Institute for Real Growth – leads CMO leadership programme and connects a global community of 400+ senior marketing leaders IRG Impact Study, produced in partnership with Saïd Business School, University of Oxford – foundational research underpinning his humanized growth framework Board member, Dutch Platform of Innovative Marketing, for close to a decade Regular speaker and moderator, Dutch Marketing Awards; three-time winner, Best of MIE Senior Lecturer (Hoofddocent), Iris Academy; advisory and teaching roles in marketing and trends Biography Brands lose relevance not because their products deteriorate, but because the people they serve quietly change around them. Aljan de Boer has spent the past two decades helping commercial leaders see that shift before it becomes a crisis – using social science, not sentiment analysis, as the primary instrument. As Head of Inspiration at TrendsActive, de Boer works with a methodology that draws on psychology, sociology, and anthropology to decode fundamental changes in how people think, trust, and make decisions. The consultancy’s client list runs to major international brands across consumer, financial services, and technology sectors. Its trend model is designed not to describe what is fashionable but to identify what is structurally different about the human context organisations are operating in. Alongside his work at TrendsActive, de Boer serves as Community Director at the Institute for Real Growth, where he leads a global CMO leadership programme and connects a practitioner network of more than 400 senior marketing leaders. The IRG’s work – including its Growth and Impact Studies, developed in partnership with the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford – provides the empirical backbone for his argument that durable commercial growth requires creating value for colleagues, customers, communities, and capital markets simultaneously. He calls this humanized growth; the research quantifies why it outperforms narrower models. The result is a speaker who brings an evidence base to questions that typically attract only opinion: what is actually changing in consumer behaviour, why geopolitical and generational pressure shifts brand expectations at a structural level, and what a marketing or commercial leadership team should concretely do next. Key speaking topics Sociocultural trends and brand strategy Humanized growth and multi-stakeholder value creation Consumer behaviour under economic and geopolitical pressure Generation Z and generational change Future-proofing organisations through social science ESG and sustainability as commercial strategy The polycrisis and its implications for business Ideal for CMOs and senior marketing leadership teams Chief Commercial Officers and growth strategy leaders Executive committees preparing for medium-term strategic planning Corporate conference programmes focused on brand relevance, customer strategy, or commercial resilience Audience outcomes A structured framework for identifying which sociocultural shifts are commercially significant, and which are noise Clearer understanding of the specific psychological, sociological, and generational forces reshaping customer and employee expectations Language and evidence for making the case internally for human-centred growth strategies, grounded in the IRG research base Sharper perspective on what Generation Z’s formative context – climate anxiety, political polarisation, pandemic – means for brand and product strategy A practical lens for translating societal complexity into near-term decisions on brand positioning, customer engagement, and organisational priorities

Why organisations work with Bronisław Komorowski He sat in the two chairs that defined Poland’s security posture: Minister of National Defence during NATO integration and President during the Russian annexation of Crimea. Very few speakers have carried both briefs. He reads Warsaw, Kyiv, Vilnius, and Berlin as a participant, not an analyst. That matters when European political risk is being priced around a boardroom table. As founder of the Bronisław Komorowski Institute and member of the InterAction Council, he remains inside the network of former heads of state shaping conversations on European security and the global order. He brings the authority of a head of state who led Poland through the post-2010 period, with the historian’s grounding of a University of Warsaw history graduate and former Solidarity-era dissident. Biography highlights President of the Republic of Poland, 2010 to 2015. Minister of National Defence of Poland, 2000 to 2001, and Deputy Minister of National Defence, 1990 to 1993. Marshal (Speaker) of the Sejm from 2007, and member of the Sejm from 1991 to 2010. Pre-1989 opposition activist with the Workers’ Defense Committee (KOR) and the Movement for Defense of Human and Civil Rights (ROPCiO), interned during martial law. Member of the InterAction Council of former heads of state and government. Honorary doctorates from Mykolas Romeris University (2008) and Vytautas Magnus University (2015). Biography Poland sits on the seam between the European Union and a Russia that has redrawn borders by force. Bronisław Komorowski has served in nearly every senior role that seam produces. He was Deputy Minister of National Defence in the first post-communist governments, ran the defence ministry under Jerzy Buzek during the final stages of NATO integration, led the Sejm as its Marshal from 2007, and served as President of the Republic from 2010 to 2015. The arc matters because the questions he dealt with are the questions European boards are now asking again. How does a country on NATO’s eastern flank hold deterrence credible without triggering escalation. How do democratic institutions stay intact under sustained pressure. How does a government in Warsaw keep Washington, Berlin, and Kyiv aligned at the same time. He was making those calls during the 2014 Crimea period and the early months of Russia’s intervention in eastern Ukraine. His authority also comes from the other end of his career. He was arrested in 1971 while working with the Workers’ Defense Committee, co-operated on the underground monthly Głos through the late 1970s, and was interned under martial law. The constitutional leader of 2010 to 2015 is the same person who helped build the civic opposition that produced 1989. That grounding shapes how he talks about resilience, institutions, and the fragility of democratic settlements. Since leaving office he has continued that work through the Bronisław Komorowski Institute, founded on the day his presidential term ended, and through his seat on the InterAction Council alongside other former heads of state. He is a University of Warsaw historian by training, and it shows in how he connects the current moment to the longer European story. Key speaking topics Central and Eastern European political risk NATO’s eastern flank and European security Poland-Ukraine relations and the war in Ukraine Transatlantic relations and the future of the EU Democratic transition and the defence of institutions National defence policy and civil-military relations Leadership under constitutional crisis Ideal for Boards and executive committees with operations, supply chains, or capital exposure in Central and Eastern Europe Defence, security, and foreign-policy forums convening government, military, and industry leaders CEO and chair-level summits addressing European political risk and the transatlantic alliance Investor and asset-manager gatherings pricing geopolitical risk into European portfolios Audience outcomes A sharper read of how Warsaw, Kyiv, and the Baltic capitals actually view the security and economic picture Direct insight into the decisions a head of state weighs during a regional crisis A grounded view of how democratic institutions hold, or fail to hold, under sustained political pressure A framework for interpreting European political risk that is anchored in thirty years of Polish statecraft

Why organisations work with Alessandro Lanteri The CLEVER Framework and the Innovation Pyramid are named, peer-reviewed tools – not proprietary consulting models – giving leadership teams a shared analytical language for strategy in technology-disrupted markets that can be used well beyond the event itself. His PhD in Philosophy and Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam brings disciplinary rigour to AI ethics and strategic decision-making that management-trained advisors rarely provide; his arguments sit at the intersection of decision theory, ethics, and competitive strategy – a combination that is demonstrably scarce in this speaker category. Two commercially published books – CLEVER (Amazon #1 bestseller in Italy and the UK) and Innovating with Impact (The Economist Books, 2023) – confirm that his frameworks have been validated by mainstream leadership audiences, not just academic peer reviewers. Teaching engagements at Saïd Business School (Oxford), London Business School, and ESCP mean his content has been stress-tested against senior executive cohorts in multiple institutional contexts before it reaches the conference stage. His TEDx talk “Why Driverless Cars Need Philosophers” – over 200,000 views – demonstrates an ability to make the ethics and competitive logic of emerging technology land with audiences who are not technical specialists, which is precisely the audience most organisations need to bring along. Biography highlights Full Professor of Strategy and Innovation, ESCP Business School (Turin campus) Author of the CLEVER Framework (CLEVER: The Six Strategic Drivers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Amazon #1 bestseller in Italy and the UK) and the Innovation Pyramid (Innovating with Impact, The Economist Books, 2023, with Ted Ladd) Contributing writer to Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, World Economic Forum Agenda, and Forbes TEDx speaker – “Why Driverless Cars Need Philosophers” (TEDxHultAshridge), over 200,000 views Executive education faculty, Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) and London Business School PhD in Philosophy and Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam; MSc in Economics, Bocconi University Biography The gap between technology adoption and competitive strategy is one of the most consistent failure points in corporate innovation – organisations make significant investments in AI, digital platforms, and emerging technologies without the strategic architecture to turn those investments into competitive position. Alessandro Lanteri’s body of work is a direct response to that problem. Lanteri is Full Professor of Strategy and Innovation at ESCP Business School, where his research and teaching focus on how organisations compete in environments shaped by technological disruption. He also contributes to executive education at Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) and London Business School. His PhD in Philosophy and Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam gives his strategic frameworks an analytical foundation that is uncommon in management education – his thinking on AI ethics, decision-making under uncertainty, and competitive logic draws on disciplines that sit well outside the standard strategy canon. His two books give organisations structured tools for navigating this terrain. CLEVER: The Six Strategic Drivers for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, an Amazon #1 bestseller in Italy and the UK, identifies the deep forces reshaping competitive advantage in technology-driven markets and provides a diagnostic framework for leadership response. Innovating with Impact – co-authored with Ted Ladd and published in the Economist Edge series – introduces the Innovation Pyramid, a model that sequences the cultural foundations, methods, and strategic themes organisations need to move from isolated innovation experiments to systematic, measurable impact. His practitioner writing appears in Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, the World Economic Forum Agenda, and Forbes. A TEDx talk on the ethics and strategic implications of autonomous AI decision-making has been viewed over 200,000 times – evidence of an unusual capacity to make complex arguments about technology and strategy accessible to the leadership audiences that most need to hear them. Key speaking topics Innovation strategy and competitive advantage The CLEVER Framework and the Fourth Industrial Revolution Artificial intelligence and business strategy The Innovation Pyramid: from innovation experiments to strategic impact Digital transformation and emerging technologies AI ethics and responsible technology adoption in organisations Strategic foresight and scenario planning in uncertain markets Ideal for Strategy directors and C-suite leaders defining competitive positioning in technology-disrupted markets Corporate innovation and digital transformation leads Executive education cohorts at business schools and senior leadership development programmes Boards reviewing innovation governance and technology investment strategy Audience outcomes A named, structured framework (CLEVER) for diagnosing how AI, digital platforms, and emerging technologies affect their specific competitive environment A step-by-step model (the Innovation Pyramid) for building the organisational cultures, processes, and strategic themes needed for consistent, high-impact innovation Clarity on which technology investments are likely to yield strategic advantage – and the diagnostic tools to distinguish those from investments that produce activity without impact A framework for approaching AI and digital transformation through a competitive strategy lens, rather than a purely technical one Practical methods for aligning innovation activity with long-term strategic positioning

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

Key speaking topics European security and defence policy NATO strategy and transatlantic relations Geopolitical risk and global political trends Ukraine’s security and Euro-Atlantic integration Election security and democratic resilience European Union politics and policy Ideal for Boards and executive teams navigating geopolitical risk Strategy, risk, and public affairs leaders in multinational organisations Government and public policy conferences Financial and professional services audiences with exposure to global markets Audience outcomes Clear understanding of current European and transatlantic security dynamics Insight into how geopolitical developments affect business strategy and risk exposure Context on NATO decision-making and defence policy processes Practical perspective on democratic resilience and election security Why organisations work with Fabrice Pothier Combines senior NATO policy experience with current geopolitical advisory leadership Brings direct insight from European and transatlantic policy institutions Connects global political developments to board-level strategic considerations Experienced in advising organisations operating across complex regulatory and security environments Biography Fabrice Pothier brings senior-level insight into European security, NATO strategy and transatlantic relations, shaped by leadership roles at the centre of international policymaking. As Chief Executive Officer of Rasmussen Global, he advises organisations on geopolitics, European policy and the strategic implications of global political risk. He previously served as Head/Director of Policy Planning in the Office of the NATO Secretary General, working across successive leadership teams during a period defined by major security and defence challenges. In this role, he contributed to Alliance policy development and worked on issues linked to significant operations and geopolitical crises. Earlier in his career, he founded and led Carnegie Europe, establishing the Brussels-based centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as a platform for European foreign policy debate and analysis. He continues to contribute to strategic thinking on defence and security as a Consulting Senior Fellow for Defence Policy and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Fabrice has also been involved in transatlantic initiatives focused on democratic resilience and election security, including helping to found the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity. Alongside his advisory and institutional work, he has been active in French political life, including involvement with La République En Marche / Renaissance in connection with the European elections. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, he works with senior leaders in business and government to translate complex geopolitical developments into clear strategic context and board-level understanding.

Why organisations work with Neil Martin He built the probabilistic strategy modelling systems now used by more than half the current Formula One grid – not a commentator on F1 decision-making, but the person who changed how the sport models decisions under uncertainty. Two specific, named race outcomes are directly attributed to his calls: Red Bull Racing’s first Formula One win at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, and Räikkönen’s win at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix – both the product of real-time probabilistic reasoning under extreme competitive pressure. He translates a specific, working methodology – Monte Carlo simulation and game theory applied to real-time competitive decisions – into frameworks organisations can use when multiple futures must be weighed against each other with no time to wait for certainty. His experience spans the full decision chain: building the analytical models, leading the strategy team live in the race, and managing the operational culture of teams working against non-negotiable deadlines with global coordination demands. As Co-Founder of PACETEQ GmbH, he continues to build and deploy competitive analytics tools across motorsport, which means his perspective is operational and current rather than retrospective. Biography highlights BSc in Mathematics with Computer Science and MSc in Operational Research, University of Southampton; MSc project on optimal pit-stop and refuelling strategies secured a full-time role at McLaren Racing Pioneered the application of Game Theory and Monte Carlo simulation to F1 race strategy at McLaren from 1998, replacing deterministic planning with stochastic models that could account for uncertain events in real time Team Leader of Operational Research at McLaren Racing; Chief Strategist at Red Bull Racing; Head of Operations Research and Strategy at Scuderia Ferrari (2011-2015) Strategic calls directly credited with Red Bull Racing’s first-ever Formula One win at the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix and Räikkönen’s victory at the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix Co-Founder of PACETEQ GmbH, an AI-powered motorsport analytics business; software originating from his work in active use across more than half the Formula One grid Covered in the Financial Times; featured speaker at the Gartner Data and Analytics Summit Biography Neil Martin joined McLaren Racing in 1996 to solve a specific problem: race strategy was being built on deterministic models that assumed a single most-likely future. He replaced those models with stochastic ones, applying Game Theory and Monte Carlo simulation to uncertain events. Traffic patterns, overtake probabilities, safety car timing – these could now be modelled, and strategy built around a range of probable outcomes rather than one. That shift produced verifiable results at the highest level. At the 2005 Monaco Grand Prix, Martin sent an email from McLaren’s Woking base instructing Räikkönen to stay out under a safety car; the call won the race. At the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix, as Red Bull Racing’s Chief Strategist, he kept both cars out in wet conditions when almost every competitor pitted. It was the team’s first-ever Formula One win – a 1-2 finish built on asymmetric risk reasoning under pressure. Martin joined Scuderia Ferrari in 2011 as Head of the newly created Operations Research department, brought in alongside Pat Fry to rebuild the team’s race operations. He left in 2015. Since then, he has founded Random Logic and co-founded PACETEQ GmbH, an AI-powered analytics business whose tools now run on more than half the current Formula One grid. For senior leaders, the argument is direct. Performance under pressure is not determined by the quantity of data available. It is determined by the quality of the frameworks used to act on it. Martin’s career is a proof of concept for what that discipline looks like when competitive stakes are at their highest. Key speaking topics Decision-making under uncertainty Probabilistic risk modelling Data-driven competitive strategy High-performance operations Risk management in live environments Marginal gains and continuous improvement Analytics-led performance optimisation Ideal for C-suite and senior strategy leaders making high-stakes decisions with incomplete data and competitive time pressure Risk, analytics, and data science functions seeking to operationalise probabilistic thinking across the organisation Boards and executive teams benchmarking their decision culture against elite performance environments Corporate conferences in financial services, technology, and professional services where data-driven decision-making is a strategic priority Audience outcomes A named conceptual shift: from deterministic “most likely scenario” planning to probabilistic mapping of multiple futures and their associated likelihoods Clarity on the conditions under which data produces better decisions, and the organisational habits that close the gap between having information and acting on it with confidence Specific, race-derived examples of asymmetric risk reasoning applicable to resource allocation, market entry, and competitive response decisions Practical understanding of how high-performance teams coordinate under non-negotiable deadlines without sacrificing analytical discipline A benchmark for what genuinely data-driven operational culture looks like when competitive stakes leave no margin for deterministic thinking

Why organisations work with Helen Czerski She is an active research physicist inside the climate system, not a commentator on it. Her UCL work on bubbles at the ocean surface sits at the heart of how the atmosphere and ocean exchange heat and carbon, which gives her climate framing a physical basis that reads differently to a board than general sustainability narrative. Blue Machine gives her a defensible thesis audiences can hold onto: the ocean as a single connected engine that drives weather, food, trade and energy. That framing turns abstract climate discussion into something leaders can map to their own exposure. The Institute of Physics awarded her the 2018 Kelvin Medal specifically for translating physics to a mass audience. Few speakers pair that level of academic recognition with a track record on primetime BBC science. She has reached general business and policy audiences as the Wall Street Journal’s “Everyday Physics” columnist and as co-host of BBC Radio 4’s Rare Earth, which means she is used to explaining physics to readers and listeners who did not choose the subject. She treats curiosity as a leadership input. Her Storm in a Teacup thesis, that the rules governing the universe are visible in ordinary objects, lands as a practical argument for how technical organisations should see, question and investigate. Biography highlights Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University College London, leading research on oceanic bubble physics, air-sea gas transfer and bubble acoustics. Natural Sciences (Physics) at Churchill College, Cambridge, followed by a PhD in experimental explosives physics; postdoctoral work at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Author of Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life and Blue Machine: How the Ocean Shapes Our World (Penguin / W.W. Norton). 2024 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation for Blue Machine. 2018 William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics for public communication of physics. BBC science presenter across Orbit, Operation Iceberg, Super Senses, Colour: The Spectrum of Science and Sound Waves; co-host of Rare Earth on BBC Radio 4; former “Everyday Physics” columnist at The Wall Street Journal. Biography The ocean is a physical engine that routes most of the planet’s heat, carbon and weather, and it is almost entirely absent from the way boards discuss climate. Helen Czerski’s work at University College London, where she leads research on breaking waves and bubbles at the ocean surface, sits precisely at the interface where that engine does its work. The research is technical. The implications are strategic. Blue Machine, her 2024 Wainwright Prize-winning book, is the public form of that argument. It treats the ocean as one connected system that moves nutrients, ships, storms and carbon, and explains why every industry with a coastline, a fleet or a climate commitment is already inside it. For leaders wrestling with transition plans, physical risk disclosures or supply chain exposure, Czerski offers a vocabulary that is physical rather than political. Her earlier book, Storm in a Teacup, established the method: start with something visible, coffee stains, popcorn, a magnet on a fridge, and work outward to the physics that governs how the world operates. That method earned her the 2018 Kelvin Medal from the Institute of Physics for public communication, and it carried through ten years of primetime BBC science including Orbit, Operation Iceberg and Super Senses, alongside her “Everyday Physics” column at The Wall Street Journal and co-hosting Rare Earth on BBC Radio 4. What she brings into a room is the rare combination of a working research scientist and a public explainer who has spent a decade translating physics for audiences that did not sign up to hear it. For an organisation trying to move from sustainability language to physical reality, that translation is the point. Key speaking topics Ocean physics and the climate system The ocean economy and physical risk Science of the energy transition Everyday physics for decision-makers Curiosity and scientific thinking in organisations Communicating technical complexity to non-technical audiences Ideal for Boards and executive teams setting climate, sustainability or transition strategy Energy, shipping, insurance and infrastructure leaders exposed to ocean and weather systems CTOs, heads of R&D and engineering leaders investing in technical capability Conferences where a serious science keynote needs to land with a mixed commercial audience Audience outcomes A working mental model of the ocean as a single physical system that connects weather, carbon, food and trade A sharper read on where climate and transition narratives rest on solid physics and where they do not Language for talking about physical risk and scientific uncertainty without defaulting to jargon or slogans A renewed case for curiosity as a disciplined practice inside technical and commercial teams

Why organisations work with Hannah Fry Hello World (2018) advances a specific governance argument: that AI fails not because the technology is wrong, but because accountability was poorly designed. That gives boards a working framework for AI governance, not just a sharper awareness of risk. Her UCL research was applied directly – she worked with governments, police forces, health analysts, and supermarkets, translating mathematical models of human behaviour into operational decisions. That applied track record is what separates her algorithmic analysis from academic commentary. The accuracy-versus-fairness trade-off in predictive systems is a mathematical problem before it is an ethical one. She can explain it precisely enough for legal, compliance, and strategy leaders to translate it into governance decisions – not just for data teams. She holds Cambridge’s inaugural Professorship in the Public Understanding of Mathematics – a chair that formalises the argument that making quantitative thinking accessible to non-specialists is itself a research discipline. As President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, her institutional credibility extends well beyond media profile. Biography highlights First Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge (from January 2025), joining the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics Previously Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis; research applied to urban crime, transport, health analysis, and terrorism, with direct advisory roles across government and industry Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (elected 2022) and Fellow of Queens’ College, Cambridge President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications Author of Hello World: How to Be Human in the Age of the Machine (2018) – winner of the 2020 Asimov Prize; shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and the Royal Society Science Book Prize Christopher Zeeman Medal (2018) and Royal Society David Attenborough Award (2024) for contributions to science communication Delivered the 2019 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures – only the fourth mathematician to do so since Michael Faraday established the series in 1825 BBC presenter across AI Confidential with Hannah Fry (2026), The Secret Genius of Modern Life (BBC Two), and Bloomberg Originals’ The Future with Hannah Fry (2023); regular contributor to The New Yorker; TED Talk «The Mathematics of Love» has exceeded five million views Biography Hannah Fry spent over a decade at UCL studying the mathematics of cities – how people move through urban space, where crime clusters, how disease propagates through populations. Her research was applied: she worked directly with governments, police forces, health analysts, and supermarkets. The question she returned to consistently was what happens when those decisions are automated, and whether the automation can be trusted. Her book Hello World (2018) answered that question with precision. Algorithms are not objective – they encode the biases embedded in the data they were trained on, often before anyone noticed. The response, she argued, is not to distrust AI but to design governance that keeps humans genuinely in the loop. She called this the «cyborg future» – a practical framework for accountability, not a metaphor. The book won the 2020 Asimov Prize and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction and the Royal Society Science Book Prize. In January 2025, she became Cambridge’s first Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics, following in the footsteps of David Spiegelhalter and Stephen Hawking as a public interpreter of the discipline. She also serves as President of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications and holds a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Her media work extends the argument across audiences that no academic publication reaches. BBC Two’s AI Confidential with Hannah Fry (2026) investigated how AI is reshaping human relationships and institutional decisions. The Secret Genius of Modern Life ran over two BBC Two series. She delivered the 2019 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures – only the fourth mathematician in the lectures’ 200-year history to do so – and writes regularly for The New Yorker. For leadership teams moving from AI adoption to AI accountability, that combination of mathematical rigour and public clarity is not a communications asset. It is the substance of what she brings. Key speaking topics AI and algorithmic decision-making Data bias and algorithmic fairness Human-machine governance Risk and probability in complex systems The mathematics of human behaviour Urban data and city systems Science communication and mathematical literacy Ideal for Executive and board-level audiences setting AI governance and risk policy Chief Data Officers, Chief Technology Officers, and senior technology strategy teams Leadership conferences addressing responsible AI adoption in regulated industries – healthcare, financial services, criminal justice Public sector audiences navigating the use of predictive and automated systems Audience outcomes A clearer understanding of how algorithmic bias is produced and why it is mathematically difficult to eliminate without deliberate trade-offs A practical mental model – drawn from the Hello World framework – for when to trust algorithmic output and when to retain human judgment Confidence to engage substantively with AI governance questions without requiring deep technical knowledge Greater ability to interrogate the assumptions behind data-driven outputs, rather than treating them as authoritative A vocabulary for discussing AI risk that is precise and usable in board-level and policy conversations

Why organisations work with Dr Elsa Sotiriadis She speaks about digital biology from inside the field, with a working PhD in synthetic biology from Imperial College London and the University of Hong Kong, not as a commentator translating other people’s research. Her early-stage VC years at SOSV, where she helped build 25 deep tech and biotech start-ups, give her a founder-level view of which frontier-science claims hold up when money and product cycles are attached. She frames biotech alongside AI, computation and materials, which matches how corporate strategy teams actually have to evaluate these shifts rather than through isolated technology silos. Her science-fiction work, including the Writers of the Future honourable-mention novella Replicon, gives her a distinct capability for painting concrete, specific future scenarios rather than generic trend talks. She is comfortable with board-level audiences and Fortune 500 innovation teams, and has advised on innovation strategy across sustainability, energy and digital biology. Biography highlights International PhD in synthetic biology, Imperial College London and the University of Hong Kong. Master of Research in Synthetic and Systems Biology, Imperial College London. Former early-stage venture capitalist at SOSV, where she helped build 25 deep tech start-ups. PhD research on programmable DNA aptamers as anti-cancer agents, recognised with awards including from MIT and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. Contributor to Singularity Hub; featured by Silicon Republic among 15 women to follow in biotech. Science-fiction author (pen name Elsa Solaris / EA Solaris); debut novella Replicon received an honourable mention at the Writers of the Future competition. TEDx speaker on digital biology at TEDx University of Nicosia. Biography Digital biology is quietly turning life itself into a design space. DNA can now be read, written and programmed; cells can be engineered to produce materials, medicines and food; and computation is folding biology into a development stack that looks increasingly like software. For most boards, this is still an unfamiliar language. Dr Elsa Sotiriadis works at the centre of that language. Her international PhD in synthetic biology, taken jointly at Imperial College London and the University of Hong Kong, focused on programmable DNA aptamers as anti-cancer agents, a line of research recognised by MIT and the Swiss Academy of Sciences. She then moved from the lab into venture capital at SOSV, one of the most active early-stage deep tech investors, where she helped build 25 start-ups across biotech and frontier science. That combination shapes how she speaks. She is not a generalist trend-spotter. She can read a scientific claim, weigh it against a business model, and tell a corporate audience what is worth taking seriously in the next five to ten years. She has advised governments and Fortune 500 companies on innovation strategy across sustainability, energy and digital biology, and reaches wider audiences through Singularity Hub, TEDx and her science fiction, written under the pen name Elsa Solaris. Her debut novella Replicon received an honourable mention at the Writers of the Future competition. Senior teams bring her in when the questions get specific. Where is synthetic biology likely to hit our supply chain. What does it mean for our R and D portfolio when biology starts to behave like software. Which parts of the convergence story between AI, biotech and materials should our strategy actually plan for. Key speaking topics Digital biology and synthetic biology Frontier and deep technology convergence Biotech and healthcare innovation Climate, materials and industrial biotech Strategic foresight and long-range scenario thinking Deep tech venture building and start-up ecosystems Ideal for Board and executive strategy sessions evaluating exposure to biotech and frontier-science shifts. R and D, innovation and venture leaders in pharma, materials, food, chemicals and energy. Chief Strategy Officers and Chief Scientific Officers shaping long-range technology bets. Corporate foresight and futures teams working on scenarios beyond the next planning cycle. Audience outcomes A working mental model of what “digital biology” actually means and where it is already commercial. A clearer view of which biotech, AI and deep tech claims are credible versus speculative on current evidence. Specific examples of deep tech start-ups reshaping health, materials, food and energy. Concrete scenarios of how biology-as-technology could reshape their own sector in the next decade. A sharper question set to take back into their own strategy and R and D conversations.

Why organisations work with Diana Renner Her book Not Knowing (CMI Management Book of the Year, translated into 15+ languages) makes a specific, counterintuitive argument: that the pressure to project expertise and have answers actively impairs leadership in genuinely complex situations. This is a diagnosis most leadership development programmes avoid, and a conversation senior leadership teams rarely have with rigour. She works at the intersection of three distinct bodies of knowledge – adaptive leadership, adult development theory, and process oriented psychology – a combination that addresses not only what organisations need to do differently, but how leaders must develop as people. This is not available from single-discipline practitioners. Her guest faculty roles at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the University of Texas LBJ School of Government confirm that her frameworks hold up in rigorous, peer-reviewed executive education settings alongside practitioner application. Through the Uncharted Leadership Institute and programme partnerships with Melbourne Business School, Monash Business School, the University of Adelaide, and the Australian Institute of Police Management, she has built and tested leadership development approaches across commercial, government, and community contexts at scale. Her personal biography – leaving Romania in 1987, professional reinvention across law, refugee advocacy, and leadership development – gives the Not Knowing framework lived authority that purely academic treatments of the same topic cannot match. Biography highlights Co-author of Not Knowing: The Art of Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity (LID Publishing) – CMI Management Book of the Year 2015; translated into 15+ languages Co-author of Not Doing: The Art of Effortless Action (LID Publishing, 2018) Director and co-founder, Uncharted Leadership Institute (est. 2016); creator, Not Knowing Lab Senior Lecturer, Monash University; adjunct lecturer, University of Adelaide; associate, Melbourne Business School Guest faculty, Harvard University Kennedy School of Government and University of Texas LBJ School of Government 2017 Monash University Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award (Global Challenges Honours Program teaching team) Biography Diana Renner’s book Not Knowing: The Art of Turning Uncertainty into Opportunity, co-written with Steven D’Souza, won the Chartered Management Institute’s Management Book of the Year in 2015. Its thesis is direct: the pressure to project expertise and certainty is often what makes complex adaptive challenges harder to navigate, not easier. Translated into more than fifteen languages, it has become a reference for leadership development practitioners and senior teams working with genuine strategic uncertainty. The book draws on a distinction most leadership frameworks collapse: technical problems can be solved with existing expertise, while adaptive challenges require new thinking and development. Renner’s work through the Uncharted Leadership Institute, which she co-founded in 2016, is built around helping senior leaders recognise which they are facing – and develop the capacity to engage productively with the latter. Her practice draws on three distinct disciplines: adaptive leadership, adult development theory, and process oriented psychology. Together, these address not only what organisations need to do differently, but how leaders need to develop as people to lead well in conditions of genuine uncertainty. Programme partnerships with Melbourne Business School, Monash Business School, the University of Adelaide, and the Australian Institute of Police Management have tested these frameworks across commercial, government, and community contexts. Renner holds a Senior Lectureship at Monash University and has served as guest faculty at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the University of Texas LBJ School of Government. Her second book, Not Doing: The Art of Effortless Action (2018), extends the Not Knowing argument into the territory of executive effectiveness – examining how excessive busyness and compulsive doing undermine the quality of leadership in complex environments. Key speaking topics Adaptive leadership in uncertainty and complexity Not Knowing – leading beyond expertise Not Doing – effortless action and the limits of busyness Distinguishing adaptive from technical challenges Adult development theory and leadership growth Deliberately developmental organisational cultures Complexity theory and strategic resilience Ideal for CEOs and C-suite executives leading organisations through complex change or strategic inflection points CHROs and heads of leadership development designing senior leadership programmes Senior executives and leadership teams in government and public sector organisations Board-level strategy and scenario planning forums Audience outcomes A clear distinction between technical problems and adaptive challenges, with practical language for applying it in real organisational conversations Greater self-awareness about how the pressure to have answers shapes individual leadership behaviour and team dynamics Practical frameworks from Not Knowing and Not Doing for leading through uncertainty without forcing premature resolution A more explicit understanding of how adult development theory applies to the daily practice of leadership Approaches to building team and organisational cultures that can hold complexity and sustain productive engagement over time

Why organisations work with Dalia Marin Her peer-reviewed research links automation, trade-policy uncertainty, and reshoring in a single empirical model, giving leadership teams a defensible basis for supply-chain decisions rather than a narrative. She translates between the Brussels and Berlin policy worlds and the corporate boardroom, drawing on advisory work with the European Commission, the EBRD, and the IMF. Her Project Syndicate column is a running public reference point on deglobalisation, German deindustrialisation, and the labour-market consequences of AI, read by policy and business readers across Europe. She is one of the few senior economists who has tracked the German industrial model, and the Eastern European production network around it, continuously since the 1990s. That long view matters when companies are re-assessing the same geographies. Biography highlights Chair in International Economics, TUM School of Management, Technical University of Munich. Non-resident Fellow at Bruegel and Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Former Professor of International Economics at Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (1998 to 2017). Co-editor of “The Organization of Firms in a Global Economy” (Harvard University Press, 2008) with Elhanan Helpman and Thierry Verdier. Co-author of “Global Value Chains in a World of Uncertainty and Automation”, Journal of International Economics, 2025. Visiting appointments at Harvard, Stanford, NYU Stern, the IMF, the NBER, and the European University Institute. Project Syndicate columnist on deglobalisation, industrial policy, and the future of the German economic model. Biography The reshoring debate has moved past the slogan stage. Firms are actually pulling production back to high-income economies, and the economic literature is starting to explain why. Trade-policy uncertainty and cheaper industrial robots, working together, are restructuring global supply chains in ways that a decade of offshoring logic did not anticipate. That is the core argument of Marin’s recent work, co-authored in the Journal of International Economics in 2025. Her research shows that exposure to uncertainty in developing-country suppliers pushes production back to high-income countries, but only where robots have made it economically feasible. For a senior operations or strategy audience, this is a usable frame: reshoring is not a political mood, it is a measurable response to two forces that can be modelled. The wider body of work runs through Bruegel, CEPR, and a sustained Project Syndicate column. She has written continuously on the German economic model, the Eastern European production network built around it, and the inflationary and labour-market consequences of a partial retreat from globalisation. Her advisory work with the European Commission, the EBRD, and the IMF sits alongside the academic record rather than replacing it. She was Chair in International Economics at Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich for almost two decades before moving to TUM. Visiting appointments at Harvard, Stanford, NYU Stern, the IMF, and the NBER place her inside the network of economists who set the terms of the trade-policy debate. The value for a corporate audience is that she can connect that technical conversation to the question actually on the table: what does the next decade of supply-chain strategy look like when the old globalisation assumptions no longer hold. Key speaking topics Deglobalisation and the restructuring of global supply chains Automation, robots, and reshoring The German economic model and European competitiveness International trade policy and geopolitical risk Multinational firms and the organisation of global production Industrial policy in Europe and the United States Inflation, labour markets, and the economics of deglobalisation Ideal for Boards and executive committees reassessing supply-chain footprint in light of tariffs, geopolitical risk, and automation CSOs, Heads of Strategy, and COOs responsible for manufacturing and sourcing decisions in industrial and export-led businesses Policy forums, investor conferences, and economic summits focused on Europe, Germany, and the future of global trade Senior leadership in financial institutions and multinational corporates with significant exposure to Eastern Europe and the German industrial base Audience outcomes A clear read of the empirical evidence on reshoring, automation, and trade-policy uncertainty, rather than the headline narrative A sharper view of where the German economic model is strong and where it is exposed, with implications for anyone doing business across the European industrial network A working framework for assessing which parts of a supply chain are candidates for reshoring and which are not A grounded perspective on the macro-economic consequences of deglobalisation, including effects on inflation and labour markets Language and evidence that senior leaders can use in their own board conversations on geopolitical and trade exposure

Why organisations work with Christiana Figueres She ran the Paris Agreement negotiation directly – not as a consultant or commentator, but as the UN official accountable for the outcome. The political dynamics, the pressure points, and the coalition mechanics she describes are firsthand. Her “Stubborn Optimism” framework, introduced in The Future We Choose (Penguin Random House, 2020), gives leadership teams a named, deployable posture for climate action – one that moves beyond paralysis without slipping into greenwashing. She holds board positions at ACCIONA and ACCIONA Energía, placing her at the intersection of executive decision-making and large-scale energy transition – not just policy theory. The Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation awarded her the Great Negotiator Award in 2022 – the same honour previously given to figures who shaped international law and treaty architecture. For leadership teams navigating multi-stakeholder climate commitments, that credential is directly relevant. Her network spans 195 national governments, financial institutions, and private sector actors – the precise ecosystem any organisation must understand when building a serious climate governance position. Biography highlights Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 2010-2016 Principal architect of the 2015 Paris Agreement – unanimous adoption by 195 sovereign nations 2022 Great Negotiator Award, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School Co-author, The Future We Choose: The Stubborn Optimists’ Guide to the Climate Crisis (Penguin Random House, 2020) Honorary DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire), 2022; Legion of Honor of France, 2015 Fortune #7, World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, 2016; Time Top 100 Most Influential Leaders, 2016; Nature Journal Top 10, 2015 (ranked first) Chair, The Earthshot Prize Foundation, 2021-2026; Board member, ACCIONA and ACCIONA Energía Graduate of Swarthmore College and the London School of Economics; honorary doctorates from Yale, Georgetown, University of Edinburgh, and University of Massachusetts; named to BBC 100 Women list, 2023 Biography In December 2015, 195 nations unanimously adopted the Paris Agreement on climate change. The UN official responsible for making that outcome possible was Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC from 2010 to 2016 – appointed six months after the catastrophic collapse of the Copenhagen summit, when the prospect of a global accord looked remote. The process she built over those six years is now documented in a Harvard Law School case study. What distinguished it was a systematic approach to coalition-building: drawing together governments, financial institutions, faith communities, scientists, and private sector actors through a model of collaborative diplomacy that broke the political deadlock that had stalled climate negotiations for a decade. The Harvard Program on Negotiation recognised this with the Great Negotiator Award in 2022 – placing her alongside figures who have shaped international law and treaty architecture. Her published work extends the argument beyond diplomacy. The Future We Choose (Penguin Random House, 2020), co-authored with Tom Rivett-Carnac, introduces “Stubborn Optimism” as a named framework for climate leadership – a gritty, reality-grounded mindset that allows executives and institutions to act decisively without being paralysed by the scale of the problem. Her TED talk on the concept has reached a wide professional audience, and the three-part structure of the book – mindsets, choices, actions – has become a practical reference point for organisations setting net-zero strategy. Figueres co-founded Global Optimism, co-hosts the Outrage + Optimism podcast, and serves on the boards of ACCIONA and ACCIONA Energía. She holds honorary doctorates from Yale, Georgetown, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Massachusetts, and was named an Honorary DBE in 2022. Key speaking topics Global climate governance and the Paris Agreement Corporate net-zero strategy and climate risk Collaborative diplomacy and multi-stakeholder negotiation ESG strategy and climate-related regulatory exposure Energy transition policy and renewable energy investment Stubborn Optimism as a leadership framework Climate science communication and public persuasion Ideal for Boards and C-suite executives setting or stress-testing net-zero commitments Chief Sustainability Officers and ESG leadership teams navigating disclosure requirements Government affairs and public policy functions tracking international climate regulation Financial institutions building climate-aligned investment frameworks Audience outcomes A working model of how global climate policy is made – and where corporate strategy intersects with it Direct insight into the negotiation architecture behind the Paris Agreement and its implications for current climate commitments A named, practical framework – Stubborn Optimism – for sustaining organisational climate action without paralysis or performance Clearer understanding of where international climate governance is heading and what that means for regulation, capital allocation, and competitive positioning Greater confidence in engaging regulators, investors, and international institutions on climate strategy