Helle Thorning-Schmidt secured herself a place in the history books when she became the first woman to hold the post as Leader of the Danish Social Democrats, and in 2011 when she became Prime Minister of Denmark.

In her latest position as CEO of Save the Children International, she held an international leading position in an organisation with an annual turnover of more than DKK 10 billion and 17,000 employees in 100 countries.

Since summer 2019, Helle has spent time on her board roles and advisory activities, as well as the international think-tanks she is part of.

Helle grew up in the city of Ishøj with a single mother and has been politically active since her early youth. She is known to be a courageous woman with a forceful personality; maybe because her father told her that “girls can do anything – even become the prime minister”.

Professor Alexander Stubb has served as Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Foreign Minister, Trade and Europe Minister of Finland (2008-2016). He was a Member of the European Parliament from 2004-2008 and national parliament (2011-2017). He was the Chairman of the Finnish National Coalition Party from 2014-2016 and Vice President of the European Investment Bank from 2017-2020.

Between 2000 and 2007, he was a visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. Mr Stubb has written numerous books and academic articles on European affairs and publishes columns for several newspapers, including the Financial Times, on a regular basis.

Mariana Mazzucato is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose at University College London. She received her BA from Tufts University and her MA and PhD from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research

Her previous posts include the RM Phillips Professorial Chair at the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex University. She is a selected fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences and of the Italian National Science Academy

Mariana is the author of Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism, The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy, and The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public Vs Private Sector Myths.

Gabrielle Walker is an expert strategist focused on unleashing capitalism on climate change. Gabrielle is a TED speaker and works with global companies at boardroom level, analysing emerging trends, challenging conventional thinking and driving meaningful action.

Through its partnership with the UNFCCC High Level Champions for Climate Action, Valence Solutions participated in many COP26 events in Glasgow.

She has presented many BBC TV and radio programmes, was Climate Change Editor at Nature and Features Editor at New Scientist, has written extensively for many international newspapers and magazines including the FT, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, and has authored four books. This includes the bestselling book The Hot Topic, How to Avoid Global Warming While Still Keeping the Lights On, which was described by Al Gore as “a beacon of clarity” and by The Times as “a material gain for the axis of good”.

She earned her PhD at Cambridge University and has taught at both Cambridge and Princeton.

Catherine is an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, a fellow of Exeter College and head of the university’s Clinical BioManufacturing facility. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Catherine and her team were integral to the development of the Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccine.

Throughout the process, Catherine and her team’s skills of resilience, motivation, collaboration and agility were consistently challenged; whilst manufacturing the vaccine for the clinical trials under the glare of the global media spotlight.

Louise Beale has over a decade of experience in journalism and is currently a leading news presenter for Channel 5. She anchored her own show on Bloomberg Television in London, interviewing Europe’s business leaders, politicians and analysts. She has also covered major news stories as a correspondent for Sky News and Channel 4 News - among them Brexit, the European debt crisis and the terrorist attacks in Paris, London and Manchester. Louise has also worked extensively on radio for ITN, Classic FM, Magic FM and Monocle 24.

Additionally, Louise co-founded Middle Table with her Channel 5 co-workers, and now works with leading figures in business and politics to help them bring impact to their communication.

Tristram Stuart is an international award-winning author, speaker, campaigner and expert on the environmental and social impacts of food waste.

The environmental organisation he founded, Feedback, works to regenerate nature by transforming our food system. He is also the founder of Toast Ale which upcycles unsold fresh bread into award-winning craft beer. 100% of Toast’s distributable profits go to Feedback and other aligned charities worldwide. After three years of operations, Toast saved more than 1 million slices of bread from going to waste

Tristram is an official UN Champion of SDG 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030. He won the international environmental award in 2011, The Sophie Prize.

Jason is the co-founder of Promake International. Promake’s aim is to pioneer the future of 3D printing. Jason suffered a high-speed cycling accident that ended up leaving him in a very critical condition. Using 3D printing technology, Jason and his team were able to repair parts of his body, saving him an arm and a leg at risk of amputation. Since then, Promake has also developed a full robotic 3D printing research and development lab where they are looking to revolutionise the medical and education industries with smart materials and smart innovations.

At the beginning of the COVID pandemic Promake discovered a way of creating a ‘Lab-on-a-Chip’ device by integrating a material called Graphene with 3D printing. The device, a form of RT-PCR machine, is able to detect multiple variants and pathogens including those outside of COVID. With this device Jason and his company have enabled a new world of home therapeutics and health monitoring. Promake’s machine was selected by the UK’s National Microbiology Framework in order ease the impact of the COVID pandemic. They are now working with Microsoft in order to make this technology global.

Dr Nasser H. Saidi heads Nasser Saidi & Associates, a consultant and adviser to the banking and financial sector, governments, central banks, regulators, and multi-national companies. He is the former Chief Economist of the Dubai International Financial Centre, where as a senior executive he built and promoted the centre and its strategic development and links with foreign governments, central banks, IFIs, banks & financial institutions and international financial centres. He was senior adviser to the UAE Minister of Finance from 2004-2006.

Dr Saidi was the Minister of Economy and Trade and Minister of Industry of Lebanon between 1998-2000. He was the First Vice-Governor of the Central Bank of Lebanon for two successive mandates, 1993-1998 and 1998-2003, a period spanning reconstruction of Lebanon’s economy and its banking and financial sector. He was appointed as a Member of the UN Committee for Development Policy over the period 2000-2006, by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Dr Saidi is Chairman of the MENA Clean Energy Business Council, promoting clean energy solutions and policies in the MENA countries. He is a member of the IMF’s Regional Advisory Group for MENA and a member of the Advisory Board of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Integrated Transitions, and co-chaired the OECD MENA Corporate Governance Working Group.

Gillian Tett has an unparalleled track record of predicting important trends that impact the world.

In her previous role at the FT, she was Managing Editor (US) and columnist and also oversaw global coverage of the financial markets. Her twice-weekly column earned her recognition as Columnist of the Year at the 2014 Press Awards.

Gillian’s recent and bestselling book, Anthro-Vision: A New Way to See in Business and Life, offers a look at how businesses can revolutionize their understanding of human behaviour by studying consumers and organizations through an anthropological lens.

Gillian is also the author of The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers and the New York Times bestseller Fool’s Gold, the gripping tale of how a team of Wall Street bankers led by J.P. Morgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon created the world of ‘shadow banking,’ and then lost control of their creation. She also wrote Saving the Sun, about Japan’s financial collapse in the 1990s. She was Japan bureau chief for the FT during their ‘lost decade’.

Mr Rathi was appointed CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority on October 2020, which oversees and regulates around 51,000 financial services firms and financial markets in the UK. Mr Rathi began his career in HM Treasury before serving as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister between 2005 – 2008. He then became Head of the Financial Stability Unit, overseeing a number of the UK’s financial stability interventions before becoming HM Treasury’s Director of the Financial Services Group from 2009 – 2014. In that role, he also served as the UK representative to the EU Financial Services Committee. Nikhil joined the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in 2014 and was appointed CEO in 2015. Mr Rathi holds a BA degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Alderman Vincent Keaveny was elected as the 693rd Lord Mayor of the City of London on 29 September 2021 and took office on 12 November 2021. He previously served as Sheriff of the City of London in 2018-19 and in that capacity supported the then Lord Mayor, undertaking numerous engagements and activities at home and abroad.

Vincent is a partner in the international business law firm, DLA Piper. He advises on debt capital markets, structured finance and securitisation transactions in the UK and banks, financial institutions and corporate clients in the UK and internationally on banking, finance and capital markets transactions. He is listed as a leading practitioner in his area of practice by all of the principal legal directories and is included in the legal ‘500’ Hall of Fame for securitisation practitioners. Until May 2019 he was International Co-Chair of the Financial Services Sector at DLA Piper. In 2014/15 he served as President of the City of London Law Society. He is an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn

Since his election to the City of London in 2013 as Alderman for the Ward of Farringdon Within, Alderman Keaveny has served on a number of City Corporation Committees. He is currently a member of the Policy & Resources Committee and the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Su-committee. He also a Governor of the City of London School. Vincent is also Co-Chair of the HM Treasury & BEIS Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce.

A Liveryman of the City of London Solicitors', the Woolmen's, Distillers', Spectacle Makers', Stationers’, Framework Knitters’, Upholders’ and Security Professionals’ Companies, Vincent served as Master Solicitor in 2014/15. He is also a member of the City Livery Club, the City Pickwick Club and the Royal Society of St. George (City Branch) and the Court of The Honourable The Irish Society. Vincent is the Senior Patron of the Farringdon Ward Club.

Vincent graduated from University College Dublin with a BCL and subsequently obtained an MLitt from Trinity College, Dublin. He was recognised in 2018 by UCD as their Law Alumnus of the Year. Since his admission as solicitor in England & Wales in 1992 he has worked in private practice in the City. Vincent's interests include theatre and the arts. He is a trustee of the Sir John Soane's Museum, where he is the Independent Director on the Board. He chairs the board of the vocal ensemble, Exaudi, and is a director of Actors Touring Company.

Vincent is married to Amanda, an Intensive Care Nurse and in what spare time he has, he enjoys tennis and walking their Labrador

Mayoral Theme

People with Purpose - Vincent’s year will champion a purpose-led and people-focused UK FPS sector; growing the global competitiveness of the UK as a world leader in ESG and sustainable finance and home to the best and most diverse global talent; driving social mobility at all levels.