Banking/Finance Speakers

Sir Howard Davies took up his current post as Director, London School of Economics in 2003. While Deputy Governor of the Bank of England (1995-1997), he was appointed Executive Chairman of the FSA (Financial Services Authority) between 1997 and 2003, merging nine independently operating agencies to create a single financial sector regulatory body, (the FSA).

He began his career working as a management consultant for McKinsey’s following his graduation from Stanford School of Business 1980.

He worked at the FCO, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; this included a stint as private Secretary to the British Ambassador to France. Whilst at H M Treasury he worked initially as an official, later working as a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Davies spent three years as Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry between 1992 and 1995 and five years as Controller of the Audit Commission (1987-92).

Non executive directorships and appointments have included GKN plc (six years between 1989 and 95), Morgan Stanley (2004 – present), Paternoster Limited (2006 – present) and the International Advisory Board of NatWest Bank Plc.

Sir Howard sits on the advisory board of China Banking Regulatory Commission (appointed 2003), China Securities Regulatory Commission (appointed 2004) and as a principle advisor to the Investment Committee of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore (appointed 2009).

His publications have included co-authored works such as, Global Financial Regulation: The Essential Guide, editing The Chancellors Tales (a study of economic policy of the last quarter century) and a new book to be released later this year detailing the global economic crisis.

Davies extensive literary interests have extended to reviewing for The Times, The Economist and the Literary Review and regular commentary for The FT in addition to his extensive international lecturing at both Davos and the World Economic Forum.

Gary Duncan is the former Economics Editor of The Times, an award-winning journalist, and one of the country’s leading economic and financial commentators. As a Times columnist, he jointly wrote the paper’s flagship weekly economics commentary, sharing this with Anatole Kaletsky.

Duncan has covered economics for The Times for the past decade. Before becoming Economics Editor he was Economics Correspondent for four years. Previously, he spent 10 years writing for The Scotsman, Scotland’s national newspaper, where he was Economics Editor and chief economics commentator, writing a regular weekly column on UK and Scottish economic affairs. He also spent five years covering UK politics as a Lobby Correspondent at Westminster, becoming a noted commentator on political trends, as well as an admired and witty sketch-writer.

Gary Duncan has an in-depth expertise on the UK economy, with contacts at the highest levels among top economic policy-makers, in Britain and beyond. He has interviewed leading figures including the last three Chancellors of the Exchequer, the present and previous Governors of the Bank of England (Mervyn King and Lord George), many past and present members of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, as well as senior US policy-makers.

Duncan is highly regarded for his insight into all aspects of monetary, fiscal, and broader economic policy, as well as their impact on UK politics and the business environment. He also has extensive expertise in the European, US and leading Asian economies, as well as broader global economic prospects and trends. He is adept at simplifying complex issues and presenting them in a lucid and compelling, as well as entertaining way.

Gary Duncan has substantial experience of speaking to audiences of all sizes from 10 to 500-plus, including conference platform speaking, and presentations at business lunches and dinners. He has chaired formal events for the World Economic Forum’s prestigious annual meeting in Davos, with participants up to heads of governments and multi-national chief executives.

Tanya Beckett is the presenter of BBC World News’ World News Today: Business Edition. She has worked as a presenter for the BBC since 1998, anchoring a variety of news and business programmes across the BBC’s including Business Breakfast, Breakfast News, Working Lunch and most recently, World Business Report. She also co-presents news programmes live from Washington with her London-based colleague, Zeinab Badawi.

In 2003 Tanya moved to the US, where she hosted live shows in New York and Washington, reporting on key events such as the 2004 presidential election and the Wall Street Financial scandals. She was also the New York-based presenter of World Business Report on BBC World News.

After graduating from Oxford with a degree in Metallurgy and the Science of Materials, Tanya spent a year working for Courtaulds, researching the properties of carbon and glass fibres. She then spent the next four years working as an investment banker for Commerzbank in Frankfurt and Citibank in London.

In 1993, Tanya became a business and political reporter for CNBC Europe. She’s worked for various broadcasters including BBC, NBC Europe and CNBC Europe, where she presented The Moneywheel and FT Business Tonight; for Sky News as presenter of its live nightly business news programme; for CNN International, reporting from the London International Financial Futures Exchange; and for News Direct Radio 97.3 in London.

During her television career, Tanya also presented a 30-minute chat show for NBC Europe with guests from the worlds of politics, showbusiness and the arts, including Chaim Herzog, Salman Rushdie, Ian Smith and Eddie Izzard.

Tanya speaks German and French fluently and has completed many high profile assignments both corporate and broadcast in both languages.

Dr Eamonn Butler is Director and co-founder of Britain’s leading free-market policy think tank, the Adam Smith Institute, and a leading author and broadcaster on economics and social issues. Westminster insiders look forward each week to his wry online commentary on politics and politicians.

Eamonn is the winner, with his colleague Dr Madsen Pirie, of the 2010 National Free Enterprise Award, for the greatest contribution to furthering the market economy. He is Vice-President of the Mont Pelerin Society, an international association of distinguished economists and entrepreneurs, founded in 1947 by the Nobel Prize winner F A Hayek.

After leaving St Andrews University in the 1970s with degrees in Economics, Psychology and Ethics, he joined the brain drain out of bankrupt Britain, becoming a policy analyst at the US House of Representatives in Washington. “There, I saw how laws are made,” he says.

He returned to edit an insurance magazine in the City, and to co-found the Adam Smith Institute, which for ten years became the chief intellectual force behind privatisation, internal markets, contracting out, and other foundations of the Thatcher Revolution.

Eamonn is author of books on a wide range of subjects, from economics through psychology to politics. These include easy-read introductions to the economists Milton Friedman, F A Hayek and Adam Smith, and a short explanation of how markets work, called (modestly) The Best Book on the Market, which he wrote to be “so simple that even politicians can understand it.”

He is also co-author of Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls (which traces economic incompetence back to Hammurabi of Babylon) and a series of IQ testers including The Sherlock Holmes IQ Book.

Recently, he has published a popular paperback explaining what has gone wrong with the UK, The Rotten State of Britain (2009), and what he calls a DIY manual for fixing it, The Alternative Manifesto.

His ability to explain complex economic and political issues in a simple, amusing and controversial style has led to Eamonn appearing on speaking platforms in every continent, he says, “except Antarctica – though if the global warming nuts are right, I could break my duck there soon.”

He is an experienced broadcaster, appearing regularly on current-affairs programmes, including The Today Programme, Newsnight, The Week, Any Questions, The PM Programme, Question Time Extra, Five Live Breakfast, Five Live Drive Time, News at Ten, Jeff Randall Live, and Sky News. His articles have appeared in national newspapers including The Times and Sunday Times, The Daily (and Sunday) Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The Mail and Mail on Sunday, the London Evening Standard, The Scotsman, The Herald and (his personal favourite because “I’ve followed Oor Wullie since I was six and The Broons since I was seven”) The Sunday Post.

His writing for specialist journals such as Financial World and Private Banking has courted controversy recently by maintaining that the financial crisis was caused entirely by “incompetent politicians and regulators” rather than by “greedy bankers”. His insights into the world of political economy and centre-right policy thinking make him much in demand as a speaker and commentator for corporate clients.

In February 2010, Total Politics magazine ranked Dr Butler at 30th on a list of key unelected figures whose work and views exert measurable political influence today.

The Rt Hon Dr Vincent Cable is unable to accept or consider commercial speaking offers for the duration of his tenure as a Government Minister.

The biographical information detailed here refers to his career prior to appointment as Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills in May 2010.



Vince Cable is the highly respected economic spokesman, former acting leader for the Liberal Democrats and Member of Parliament for Twickenham in west London. His experience in the field of economics is drawn from serving as Chief Economist for Shell for two years up to 1997. Following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell in 2006 he was acting party leader until Nick Clegg’s election. Cable has been deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats and LibDem Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer since 2006, he was more recently elevated to ‘Saint Vince’ for his views following the banking crisis.

Professor Roger Steare is a leading practitioner in the development and delivery of Leadership, Culture and Ethics programs globally, for organizations such as BP, Citigroup, HSBC and PwC. He helps people in organizations all over the world develop good thinking and then do the right thing.

Regulators and law enforcement agencies including the FSA, the SFO and the US Department of Justice have endorsed the effectiveness of his highly interactive programs and while his consultancy work has been acclaimed by top executives from firms such as HSBC and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, his book ethicability®: How to decide what’s right and find the courage to do it has been endorsed by President Jimmy Carter and David Cameron MP.

Roger Steare is Professor of Organizational Ethics and Corporate Philosopher in Residence at the Cass Business School in London, where he teaches ethics at undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA levels. He conducts extensive research on human character, judgement and behaviour, and has published research based on over 20,000 “Moral DNA” profiles of people in 162 countries.

He is a Fellow of the influential centre-right policy think tank, Respublica; a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts; and a Fellow of the Institute of Recruitment Professionals.

Roger is a recognized media expert on ethics issues, appearing regularly on BBC Newsnight, the BBC World Service, CNBC Europe and in the FT and The Times. He was a member of the Expert Drafting Committee for Rights and Humanity, invited by the British Government to prepare recommendations for the G20 London Summit in April 2009.

Roger studied the History of Western Philosophy with the late Lord Conrad Russell, son of the great British philosopher Bertrand Russell and draws on a wide range of professional experience as a banker, a social worker, an executive coach and CEO of a UK subsidiary of Adecco, the world’s largest employment agency.

Whether as an enthusiastic, capable conference facilitator, a speaker working interactively among delegates on the floor, or as an advisor and consultant to boards and businesses, Roger’s unique skill set and ability to communicate his advice and views ensure he is constantly in international demand. He unfailingly provokes lively debate and discussion and the fascinating, thought inspiring opinions he holds on ethicability in the world of politics make him an important member of our Election 2010 commentary team.

View the corporate showreel for Prof. Roger Steare, the leading consultant, educator and speaker in the field of ethics.

Dan Lefkovitz is Director of Business & Operations, Pan European Research Team for Morningstar, Europe. He has coordinated Morningstar’s pan-European fund analysis effort since February 2008. Previously, he served as a senior mutual fund analyst for Morningstar, Inc in Chicago.

He was Morningstar’s lead analyst for Fidelity Investments and edited the monthly online newsletter, Morningstar Fidelity Fund Family Report since 2006. He has made media appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg Television, and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining Morningstar in 2004, Dan served as the Director of Country Analysis for Marvin Zonis and Associates, the Chicago-based country risk analysis firm, and co-authored The Kimchi Matters: Global Business and Local Politics in a Crisis-Driven World.

Lefkovitz holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.

Dr Marc Faber was born in Zurich, Switzerland. He studied in Geneva, Zurich and Economics at the University of Zurich. At the age of 24, obtained a PhD in Economics magna cum laude.

In the 70’s Dr Faber worked for White Weld & Company Limited in New York, Zurich and Hong Kong and since 1973, he has lived in Hong Kong. From 1978 to 1990, he was the Managing Director of Drexel Burnham Lambert (HK) Ltd. setting up his own business in 1990 as an investment advisor and fund manager.

Dr Faber publishes a widely read monthly investment newsletter “The Gloom Boom & Doom Report” which highlights unusual investment opportunities, and is the author of several books including “ TOMORROW’S GOLD – Asia’s Age of Discovery” which was first published in 2002 and highlights future investment opportunities around the world. “TOMORROW’S GOLD” was for several weeks on Amazon’s best seller list and is being translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai and German. Dr. Faber is also a regular contributor to several leading financial publications around the world.

A book on Dr Faber, “RIDING THE MILLENNIAL STORM”, by Nury Vittachi, was published in 1998. A regular speaker at investment seminars, Dr Faber is well known for his “contrarian” investment approach.
He is also associated with a variety of funds and is a member of the Board of Directors of numerous companies.

THE GLOOM BOOM & DOOM REPORT

The Gloom Boom & Doom Report is an in depth economic and financial publication, which highlights unusual investment opportunities around the world. The guiding philosophy is that, as Horace already observed, “many shall be restored that are now fallen and many shall fall that are now in honour.” The Gloom Boom & Doom report aims, based on economic, social and historical trends, to warn investors when investment themes have become widely accepted and are, therefore, highly priced and risky, while it continuously searches for opportunities in unloved and depressed markets. Subscribers to the GBD report are usually institutional investors, corporations or high net worth individuals, who are in a position to invest internationally and in all asset classes including bonds, equities, commodities and real estate, and have the necessary account facilities in place to do so.

An influential pro-growth advocate and lauded economic forecaster, Steve Forbes is one of the most highly respected businessmen of our time.

• President and CEO of Forbes, Inc.
• Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine
• Republican Candidate for President, 1996 and 2000.

Steve Forbes runs America’s foremost business magazine as the President and CEO of Forbes, Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine. The company’s flagship publication, Forbes, is the nation’s leading business magazine, with a circulation of over 900,000. Recently, Forbes, Inc. expanded with the launch of several new publications including Forbes FYI, a lifestyle supplement, and Forbes Global. Forbes and Forbes Global together reach a worldwide audience of nearly five million readers. In the new media arena, Forbes.com now attracts over seven million unique visitors a month and has become the leading destination site for business decision-makers and investors.

In 1997 Forbes entered the new media arena with the launch of Forbes.com. The site now attracts over seven million unique visitors a month and has become the leading destination site for business decision-makers and investors.

Steve took leaves of absence from Forbes, Inc. in 1996 and 2000 to campaign vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Key to his platform was a flat tax, medical savings accounts, a new Social Security system for working Americans, parental choice of schools for their children, term limits and a strong national defence. Mr. Forbes continues to energetically promote this agenda.

Among his topics:

The Role and Evolution of Government in the Face of Global Economic Integration: With an exceptional understanding of international business, Steve translates the economic trends that will affect the future of global business and government.

America’s Promise for Hope, Growth and Opportunity: Steve Forbes explores the most compelling issues of the day to forecast trends that will impact business growth.

Anatole Kaletsky is one of the country’s leading commentators on economics, he was formerly Economics Editor and is now Editor-at-large of The Times and writes for The Times Comment pages on Thursdays. He has won many awards for his financial and political journalism. Before joining The Times, he worked for 12 years on the Financial Times. He is also a founding partner of GaveKal Research, a Hong Kong-based consultancy which provides economic policy analysis to 500 financial institutions and multinational companies around the world.

Mr Kaletsky’s journalistic work has won numerous awards and distinctions. In 1996 he was named Newspaper Commentator of the Year in the BBC Press Awards and has twice received the British Press Award for Specialist Writer of the Year, as well as the Wincott Award for economic journalism administered by the Institute of Economic Affairs and the first Cernobbio-Europa prize for European Journalist of the Year.

Mr Kaletsky was educated at Cambridge University, where he graduated from King’s College with a First Class degree in Mathematics, and at Harvard University, where he was a Kennedy Scholar and gained a Master’s degree in Economics.

Born in 1952 in Moscow, he also lived as a child in Poland and Australia. In addition to English he speaks fluent Russian, has a working knowledge of French. Since 1966 he has lived in Britain and America.

politics, economics and international relations.

Adam Shaw provides business news on Radio 4′s benchmark Today programme and presented BBC’s Working Lunch. He is a popular commentator on the stock market and was the Plain English Campaign’s Broadcaster of the Year and for two years.
Shaw was part of the Working Lunch launch team and helped design the concept of the show. Over a million people a week watch the programme and it has become the most popular daily financial programme on television.

Adam was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving across to broadcasting with the BBC and Japanese television. He reported for Watchdog and That’s Life before switching to Business Breakfast.

Away from the Square Mile, Adam presented Tutus and Tiaras – picturing a year in the life of the English National Ballet. He also co-presented Cashing In, the money roadshow aiming to save a town’s residents one million pounds in a single day.

Adam has published Political Rhubarb and three guides to personal finance, including Money & How To Make More Of It.

He writes for the Financial Mail on Sunday, and has been named Broadcaster and Financial Personality of the Year.

Author, Broadcaster, Journalist and Lecturer, Anthony Hilton joined Fleet Street in 1968 as a Trainee on The Guardian.

Hilton was City Editor of The Times, 1981 to 1983 and City Editor of The Evening Standard from 1984 to 1989 and in November 1989 became Managing Director of The Evening Standard, a post he held for six years before returning to the City Office as Editor in 1996.

Hilton has worked for The Observer, The Daily Mail and The Sunday Express, was for five years Editor of Accountancy Age and has served in New York where for three years he was Business Correspondent for the London Sunday Times. He returned to Britain in 1981 to become City Editor of The Times.

He was seen regularly on television, filling the commentator’s slot on Channel 4′s “TV Business programme” for three years, and appearing as the expert panelist on “The Stocks and Shares Show”. He is also heard frequently on radio. In addition, he has written two acclaimed books: “How to communicate financial information to employees” and “City within a state” – A study of how the city of London really works.

He has an MA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Aberdeen, lives in Suffolk, and has four children. He is a former parachutist but now less strenuously cruises on England’s canals.

Anthony was the winner of the 2003 Wincott Prize for Business Journalism. He has been a weekly columnist on Marketing, Investor relations, pensions and economics and is in great demand to speak at conferences and on the after dinner circuit.

Jim Slater trained as an accountant. He first became interested in investment in the Sixties, while a director at a British Leyland subsidiary. After publicising his methods via a column in the Sunday Times, he launched the investment conglomerate Slater Walker, which he chaired until 1973. The company was known for its aggressive acquisitions in every area from banking to property. It collapsed in the 1973-4 recession, leaving Slater bankrupt to the tune of about £4m in today’s currency.

Jim fought his way back to prosperity through hard won private property deals and writing for numerous small investors. In 1990, he published his main work, The Zulu Principle. This popularised the use of a financial ratio devised in America, known as the PEG, or Price:Earnings Growth Ratio. He has since devised a monthly publication called Company REFS (Really Essential Financial Statistics), which helps investors to apply his system by listing PEGs and other key ratios and information on all UK companies.

Now living in Surrey, but far from retired, Slater is still very active in educating investors through his books and numerous lectures. He is also a major shareholder in a variety of small companies, and puts a good deal of money into charitable causes and sports sponsorships.

How to Become a Millionaire – Make Money While You Sleep
How to Become a Millionaire – It REALLY Could Be You!
The Zulu Principle
Beyond the Zulu Principle – Extraordinary Profits From Growth Shares
Trade and Investment in China: The European Experience
Business Relationships with East Asia: The European Experience
Investment Made Easy – How to Make More of Your Money
The European Union and ASEAN: Trade and Investment Issues

Douglas McWilliams is one of Europe’s top economists. In 1992 he set up and now runs Centre for Economics and Business Research Limited (CEBR), one of the Britain’s leading commercial economics think-tanks. He is a well-known public speaker of many years’ standing and is greatly in demand for speaking engagements and media appearances. His face is a familiar one to viewers of current affairs and business television programmes such as “Newsnight” and “Business Breakfast” while his voice is heard frequently on the BBC and other radio programmes.

Douglas has a unique talent for being able to put across complex economic facts and forecasts in terms that can be understood by non-specialists. His great sense of humour can be detected in his speeches, which are interesting as well as informative. His presentations are clear, concise, well argued and supported by clear visual material.

Douglas has given keynote speeches to a wide range of audiences, from seminars for packaging to seminars for property, from insurance to information technology, from catering to construction and including a whole host of diverse interests.

Douglas was Chief Economic Adviser to the Confederation of British Industry from 1988 to 1992. Previously he was IBM UK Chief Economist, Manager of Market Research and Manager of Business Environment Analysis. He was Chairman of the economics forecasting group of UNICE, the European federation of employers’ organisations from 1980 to 1985. Douglas McWilliams was Visiting Professor at Kingston University Business School from 1988 to 1998. He was also a member of the Council of the Foundation for Manufacturing and Industry from 1993 to 1998.

Douglas is a member of the Council of the Institute for Fiscal Studies. He is also Economic Adviser to two organisations, the Chartered Institute of Marketing and NCL Investments Ltd.

Jeff Randall is a Business Journalist, formerly the Business Editor of BBC News and now Editor-at-Large of the Daily Telegraph.

He joined the Daily Telegraph in 2005 after four years with the BBC. He was previously with the Sunday Business, which he edited from its launch in February 1998.

“He talks and writes about complex financial matters in a language people understand.” The Daily Telegraph.

Between 1986 and 1988 he was City Correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph, which he joined from the Financial Weekly, where he was Assistant Editor. He spent five years from 1989 to 1994 as City Editor on the Sunday Times.

Between 1994 and 1995 he was City and Business Editor on the Sunday Times, as well as a Director of Times Newspapers. From 1995 to 1996 he was Deputy Chairman of Financial Dynamics Ltd, a City PR firm. He then became Assistant Editor and Sports Editor on the Sunday Times and was responsible for launching the Sunday Times’ 20-page colour sports section in 1996. He won the London Press Club’s Business Journalist of the Year Award in 2000 and the FT Analysis’ Financial Journalist of the Year Award in 1991.

One of the UK’s best known and most influential business commentators.

Educated at Nottingham High School and Cambridge. The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP is a barrister-at-law, having been called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1963 and becoming QC in 1980. He has practised on the Midland Circuit, based in Birmingham.

Kenneth Clarke first became active in politics at Cambridge where he was President of the Union. Life in the House of Commons began on his election as MP for Rushcliffe in the 1970 general election and he has retained the seat to this day.

His career within the House has been a long one and he held positions within the Department of Transport before being appointed Minister for Health in 1982. Kenneth Clarke joined the Cabinet in 1985 as Paymaster General and Minister for Employment, and following the 1987 general election, became Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Trade & Industry. He subsequently held the posts of Secretary of State for Health, Education & Science and Home Office before becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer in May 1993, a position he held until the general election of May 1997.

On 19 January 2009, he rejoined the Conservative Party front bench team as Shadow Business Secretary.

Among the most energetic of former Conservative cabinet ministers in broadening his business interests since the election, Kenneth Clarke has recently been appointed non-executive chairman of Uni-Chem, non executive deputy chairman of BAT and a non-executive director of Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust.

Renowned for his powerful performances in the House and credited with having taken the UK economy to a healthy state, Kenneth Clarke is one of the most impressive people on the political scene today.

Famous also for his lively sense of humour and “the chuckle”, Kenneth Clarke’s vast experience of world economic and political affairs make him a much requested keynote speaker at senior-level conferences.

One of the City of London’s best-known economists, Roger Bootle runs the consultancy, Capital Economics, which specialises in macroeconomics and the economics of the property market. He is also Economic Adviser to Deloitte, a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee and an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. He was formerly Group Chief Economist of HSBC and, before the change of government, he was appointed one of the Chancellor’s panel of Independent Economic Advisers, the so-called “Wise Men”.

Roger Bootle studied at Oxford University and then became a Lecturer in Economics at St Anne’s College, Oxford. Most of his subsequent career has been spent in the City of London.

He has written many articles and several books on monetary economics. His most recent book is Money for Nothing which correctly anticipated the current financial crisis and has been widely acclaimed. This follows the success of The Death of Inflation, published in 1996, which became a best-seller and was subsequently translated into nine languages. Initially dismissed as extreme, The Death of Inflation is now widely recognised as prophetic. Roger is also joint author of the book Theory of Money, and author of Index-Linked Gilts.

Roger is currently preparing a book entitled The Trouble with Markets to be released in September/October this year. The book is about the deep origins of the current financial crisis and the consequences for economies, markets and politics, both domestic and international. It’s wide sweep and broad popular appeal is intended to have very wide readership, much in the manner of The Death of Inflation and Money for Nothing. Both previous books became bestsellers and were translated into several languages. The Death of Inflation correctly forecast a long period of low inflation. Money for Nothing correctly anticipated the property bubble and much of the current crisis. It won the Independent Book Publishers’ Award.

Roger is a regular columnist for The Daily Telegraph and appears frequently on television and radio.

Declan Curry is the main presenter of BBC’s Working Lunch which is BBC Two’s award-winning daily business, personal finance and consumer news programme which has been on air since September 1994.

Previously, Declan had been the Business Presenter for ‘Breakfast’ on BBC One and BBC News 24, the UK’s most-watched morning news programme. He had been a business presenter with BBC News 24 since the channel’s launch in 1997 and the Breakfast presenter for eight years.

Before that, he presented BBC Radio 5 Live’s early morning business programme, Wake up to Money, and produced and reported for a range of programmes, including Radio 4′s personal finance flagship Moneybox, Radio 5 Live’s Financial World Tonight, and World Service Radio’s World Business Report.

He has also worked for the London-based commercial news station LBC, and writes for a wide range of newspapers, magazines and industry publications in the UK, the Irish Republic and the United States.

If not broadcasting from his studio at the London Stock Exchange, you’ll find him reporting from factories, schools, farms, breweries, bakeries, bus & train stations, supermarkets and even occasionally gyms all across the UK.

Declan also appears coast-to-coast across the United States each morning, with a live report for the US network ABC. He reports occasionally for the BBC’s global news channel, BBC World.

He recently reported for BBC One’s ‘Heaven & Earth’ programme, as well as presenting Radio 5 Live’s ‘Weekend Business’, News 24′s ‘Storyfix’ and documentaries for BBC Northern Ireland.

He spent four years as a regular columnist for ‘Investors Chronicle’ magazine, and has been published in a wide range of titles in the UK, Ireland and the United States. He has written more times than he can remember for the BBCs news website.

He has been a presenter for BBC News 24 since the channel’s launch in 1997. Previously, he worked for programmes on BBC Radio 4 (Moneybox, Moneybox Live), Radio 5 Live (Wake up to Money, Financial World Tonight), World Service Radio, BBC Two, Channel Four and LBC.

Hamish McRae is one of Europe’s leading futurists. He is the author of the acclaimed work on the future “The World in 2020: Power, Culture and Prosperity” and was named Business and Finance Journalist of the Year 2006 at the British Press Awards.

He is associate editor and the principal economic commentator of “The Independent” and “The Independent on Sunday”.

Since the publication of “The World in 2020″ he has been in demand world-wide as a speaker on the future.

His other books include “Capital City – London as a Financial Centre”, co-authored with Frances Cairncross, and “Wake-up Japan”, co-authored with Tadashi Nakamae. Awards include Financial Journalist of the Year in 1979, a special merit award in the first Amex Bank essay awards in 1987, 1996 Columnist of the Year in the Periodical Publisher’s Awards – and in 2005 the David Watt Prize for outstanding political journalism. He is a visiting professor at the School of Management at Lancaster University and a council member of the Royal Economic Society.

His current areas of work include the shift of power to the economies of Asia and the impact of the new technologies on the world economy. He is now working on a new book on global best practice.

He was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh and has an MA in Economics and Political Science from Trinity College, Dublin. He was deputy editor of “The Banker” and editor of “Euromoney” before becoming financial editor of “The Guardian” in 1975. In 1989 he moved to “The Independent” where he is now associate editor.

`A charismatic and innovative speaker. I can only recommend him.’
Deutsche Telekom

`An engaging and entertaining speaker, credible and authoritative.’
BBC

‘Thank you for your excellent talk at our chief executives’ conference, it contributed greatly to the success of the occasion. You certainly stimulated lively debate both for the rest of evening and beyond.’
Islandsbanki

`Hamish successfully stimulated group discussion after an excellent presentation. He is a pleasure to work with’
Scottish Enterprise

Lord Adair Turner (Adair) of Ecchinswell

Adair Turner (Lord Turner) is Chairman of the Financial Services Authority, the regulatory body which oversees the financial services industry in the UK. He is also Chairman of the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee.

In March 2009 the FSA produced a report recommending a revamp of global banking regulation in response to the credit crunch and collapse of global banking luquidity.

Adair Turner will lead the FSA as it wrestles with the challenge of rebuilding a tarnished reputation and negotiates changes to the regulatory regime. The former McKinsey director is seen by many in the industry as a positive mix of industry experience and political nous, key to the FSA as the UK reviews its system for sharing financial regulation between the FSA, the Bank of England and the Treasury, and on the international stage.

Adair Turner is also Chairman of the Overseas Development Institute. He is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and at Cass Business School, City University.

He became a cross-bench member of the House of Lords in 2005. He was Chairman of the Pensions Commission from 2003 – 2006, and of the Low Pay Commission from 2002 – 2006. His book ‘Just Capital – The Liberal Economy’, was published by Macmillan in 2001.

Until September 2008 Adair Turner was a non-executive Director at Standard Chartered Bank; from 2000-2006 he was Vice-Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, and from 1995-99, Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. Prior to that, between 1992 and 1995, he built the McKinsey’s practice in Eastern Europe and Russia as a Director.

Adair Turner is also trustee of the World Wildlife Fund UK, Chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Investment and Vice-Chairman of Britain in Europe, the leading pro-euro lobby group. Adair is a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund UK, Chairman of the Centre for Sustainable Investment and Vice-Chairman of Britain in Europe, the leading pro-euro lobby group. His recent book ‘Just Capital – The Liberal Economy’ is published by Macmillan.