The Rev’d. Dr. Lyndon Drake is a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, following on from a DPhil in Theology from Oxford (2023) on economics and writing in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from York (2005). He is the operational lead for the Oxford Collaboration on Theology and Artificial Intelligence. Until 2024, he served as the Māori Anglican Archdeacon of Tāmaki Makaurau in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Lyndon also has degrees in science and commerce (Auckland) and two previous degrees in theology (Oxford), along with peer-reviewed publications in science and theology. Until 2010, Lyndon was a Vice President at Barclays Capital, trading interest-rate products. Since then, he has served in church ministry, as well as teaching theology and holding other leadership roles, including as chair of Te Whare Ruruhau o Meri Trust Board (a charity working to reduce family harm and sexual violence).

A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College Cambridge; emeritus A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture in the University of Cambridge. Author, co-author, editor, co-editor of over 30 books, most recently the single-authored Thebes: the Forgotten City of Ancient Greece and Democracy: A Life. I hold three honorary degrees, am a Commander of the Order of Honour (Greece), and an Honorary Citizen of Sparti (modern Sparta).

Mona Siddiqui, OBE is Professor of Religion and Society at Kings College, London. She is a regular commentator in the media, known especially for her appearances on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland’s Thought for the Day as well as BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze. In 2012, she appeared as a guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. She has published widely in the area of Christian -Muslim studies and Islamic law and ethics. She is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Royal Society of Edinburgh and an advisor to the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Izabella Kaminska is the founder and editor of The Blind Spot, a new media venture that aims to shine a light on stories being missed by the wider journalistic pack. The site focuses on finance, market, and media news in both short and long form. It hopes to deliver a healthy mix of analysis and opinion-led commentary, supported by aggregation, news reporting and deep dives.

In February 2023, she also became Politico Europe’s senior finance editor, overseeing the growth of Politico’s financial coverage on a part-time basis, in a deal that secured a special licensing agreement for the distribution of Politico content on The Blind Spot. She continues to author her weekly newsletter at The Blind Spot.

Izabella is an alumnus of the Financial Times, where she spent 13 years in reporting roles, most recently as the editor of FT Alphaville, the Financial Times’s award-winning markets and finance blog. Izabella was also an FT columnist and opinion writer focused on tech, finance, and markets. She has also written as a freelancer for Bloomberg, Boat International, and Public News.

Izabella started her journalistic career in 2001 as a junior reporter for the English-language newspaper the Warsaw Business Journal. She later spent time in the former Soviet Union at the Caspian Business News, which took her to Azerbaijan and Georgia. In 2003 she reported as a freelancer from Kabul, Afghanistan, before joining BP as an Associate Editor of the company’s internal magazine Horizon in 2004.

After completing the 2005 Reuters graduate trainee program, Izabella joined Platts to focus on the reporting of European natural gas markets. She then went on to become a senior producer at CNBC in London, producing the channel’s flagship program Squawk Box. 

With The Blind Spot Izabella is initiating a two-part plan to try to reconfigure how journalistic information is organized on the Internet. 

Sir Martin Donnelly is a former Permanent Secretary with expertise in business, trade and global economic issues, and four decades of  experience shaping policy across Government and the private sector, in the UK and globally. He has worked in Brussels and Paris as well as London, and has written widely on international trade and economic issues, gender diversity and leadership. Martin is a part-time adviser to the Foreign Secretary on the UK's economic diplomacy, and senior independent director at the National Audit Office.' He lives in Bwlch, Powys. 

Dr Lawrence Newport is a campaigner, and co-founder of Looking for Growth. He has led national campaigns for criminal justice reform and public safety, including the successful push to ban XL Bully dogs and tougher sentencing for prolific offenders. A former academic, he uses data and public pressure to force policy change. He is now focused on tackling Britain's decline, unlocking growth, and rebuilding the country's ability to get things done.

Professor the Baroness Alison Wolf DBE is the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London. She sits as a cross-bench peer (Baroness Wolf of Dulwich) in the UK House of Lords. She specialises in the relationship between education and the labour market. She was the founding Chair of Governors of King’s College London Mathematics School, and remains a governor and vice-chair, and she is a trustee of the University Maths Schools Network.

Alison Wolf served in the No 10 Policy Unit, as a part-time expert adviser on skills and workforce to the UK Prime Minister, from February 2020 to February 2023. She was a panel member for the ‘Augar Review’: the independent Review of Post-18 Education and Funding chaired by Sir Philip Augar, which reported in 2019. In March 2011 she completed the Wolf Report which led to major reforms in vocational education for 14-18 year olds, and she was also a member of the Sainsbury Review which led to the creation of T-levels. Publications include The XX Factor and Does Education Matter?

Theodora Zemek has had a 40 year career in the City, largely in fixed income investment. She has managed portfolios for central banks, insurance and pensions companies and retail investors. She was formerly a Non Exec for BlackRock Fund Managers

Prior to her retirement, she was Global Head of Fixed Income for Axa Investment Managers, responsible for Euros 385 billion in assets.. She established the fixed income divisions of M and G Investment Management (1992) and New Star Asset Management (2001), having launched the first UK Corporate Bond unit trust and the first UK High Yield Corporate Bond Fund.

Theo received her PhD in History from Cambridge in 1985, with a thesis on the the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment (Smith and Ferguson) in France.

Ray Perman was a financial journalist for over 30 years on newspapers including the Financial Times and The Times. He is the author of four books, including The Rise & Fall of the City of Money, a financial history of Edinburgh, and HUBRIS, an account of the collapse of HBOS in 2009. His latest work is a biography of the Enlightenment geologist and businessman James Hutton. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and chair of court at the University of St Andrews.

A.G. Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College Cambridge; emeritus A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture in the University of Cambridge. Author, co-author, editor, co-editor of over 30 books, most recently the single-authored Thebes: the Forgotten City of Ancient Greece and Democracy: A Life. I hold three honorary degrees, am a Commander of the Order of Honour (Greece), and an Honorary Citizen of Sparti (modern Sparta).

Anat R. Admati is the George G.C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where she is also a Faculty Director of the Corporations and Society Initiative. She also a senior fellow at Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and (by courtesy) of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), where she directs the Program on Capitalism and Democracy at the Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.

Admati has written extensively on information dissemination in financial markets, portfolio management, financial contracting, corporate governance and banking. Her current research, teaching and advocacy focus on the complex interactions between business, law, and policy with focus on governance and accountability.

Since 2010, Admati has been active in the policy debate on financial regulations. She is the co-author, with Martin Hellwig, of the highly acclaimed book The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It (Princeton University Press, 2013), whose expanded edition was published in 2024. In 2014, she was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world and by Foreign Policy Magazine as among 100 global thinkers.

Admati holds BSc from the Hebrew University, MA, MPhil and PhD from Yale University, and an honorary doctorate from University of Zurich. She is a fellow of the Econometric Society, the recipient of multiple fellowships, research grants, and paper recognition, and is a past board member of the American Finance Association. She has served on several editorial boards and was a member of the FDIC’s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee and the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee.

Professor the Baroness Alison Wolf DBE is the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London. She sits as a cross-bench peer (Baroness Wolf of Dulwich) in the UK House of Lords. She specialises in the relationship between education and the labour market. She was the founding Chair of Governors of King’s College London Mathematics School, and remains a governor and vice-chair, and she is a trustee of the University Maths Schools Network.

Alison Wolf served in the No 10 Policy Unit, as a part-time expert adviser on skills and workforce to the UK Prime Minister, from February 2020 to February 2023. She was a panel member for the ‘Augar Review’: the independent Review of Post-18 Education and Funding chaired by Sir Philip Augar, which reported in 2019. In March 2011 she completed the Wolf Report which led to major reforms in vocational education for 14-18 year olds, and she was also a member of the Sainsbury Review which led to the creation of T-levels. Publications include The XX Factor and Does Education Matter?

Ed Richards is a co-founder of Flint Global Ltd. Flint works with companies and other organisationswho seek to navigate successful developments in the policy, political and regulatory arenas. The company works globally from six offices across Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Ed works across a broad range of sectors including digital/tech and other network industries, as well as on general policy, competition, and regulatory issues.

Before co-founding Flint, Ed spent more than eight years as the Chief Executive of Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator. Earlier in his career Ed worked as an adviser to the UK Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street covering a wide range of domestic policy areas and helping to coordinate the introduction of significant legislation. Prior to this, he led the Corporate Strategy team at the BBC during the development of digital technology and services.

In addition to his position as Founding Partner at Flint, Ed is also Chair of Nesta, the social innovation charity and Chair of the Behavioural Insights Team (the Nudge Unit).

David is a regulatory expert and economist. He works at the interface of regulation, finance and infrastructure. He was Chief Executive of Ofwat, the economic regulator of the water sector in England and Wales 2021-25. Prior to this he held a number of senior roles at Ofwat including Executive Director leading the 2019 price review and Economics Director. Before Ofwat, David worked in economic regulation and competition in the telecommunications, energy and water sectors as a consultant and in Government in the UK and New Zealand."

Jonathan Ford is a freelance writer. He was an editor and columnist at the Financial Times, and held senior editorial positions at Prospect Magazine, Reuters and Breakingviews. He now presents a podcast on financial and business history called A Long Time in Finance and writes a substack, Business Adventures.

City editor of the Daily Telegraph for 19 years, Neil has spent nearly all his working life in financial journalism, culminating in a weekly column for the Financial Times and a monthly column for The Oldie. He lives in London and is an enthusiastic, if mediocre, fly-fisherman. In addition to A Long Time In Finance podcast with Jonathan Ford, he writes a monthly column for The Oldie magazin

Sir Martin Donnelly is a former Permanent Secretary with expertise in business, trade and global economic issues, and four decades of  experience shaping policy across Government and the private sector, in the UK and globally. He has worked in Brussels and Paris as well as London, and has written widely on international trade and economic issues, gender diversity and leadership. Martin is a part-time adviser to the Foreign Secretary on the UK's economic diplomacy, and senior independent director at the National Audit Office.' He lives in Bwlch, Powys. 

Ilias Alami is an Assistant Professor in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge, where he writes about state capitalism, geopolitics, the green transition, and global finance. He is also the Director of the PhD programme in Development Studies. Prior to joining Cambridge, he held research and teaching positions at Uppsala University, Maastricht University, and Manchester University, and visiting positions at the University of Sydney, Sciences Po Paris, the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo, and the University of Johannesburg. He is the author of Money Power and Financial Capital in Emerging Markets: Facing the Liquidity Tsunami (Routledge, 2019) and co-author of The Spectre of State Capitalism (Oxford University Press, 2024). Ilias is a fellow of the Transition Security Project, a research associate at the Second Cold War Observatory, and a member of Common Wealth's Green Planning Commission.

Nick Butler is an energy economist and Visiting Professor in the Policy Institute at Kings College London.  He was Group Vice President for Strategy and Policy at BP from 2002 to 2007 and subsequent senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown.   

Ed Richards is a co-founder of Flint Global Ltd. Flint works with companies and other organisationswho seek to navigate successful developments in the policy, political and regulatory arenas. The company works globally from six offices across Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Ed works across a broad range of sectors including digital/tech and other network industries, as well as on general policy, competition, and regulatory issues.

Before co-founding Flint, Ed spent more than eight years as the Chief Executive of Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator. Earlier in his career Ed worked as an adviser to the UK Prime Minister in 10 Downing Street covering a wide range of domestic policy areas and helping to coordinate the introduction of significant legislation. Prior to this, he led the Corporate Strategy team at the BBC during the development of digital technology and services.

In addition to his position as Founding Partner at Flint, Ed is also Chair of Nesta, the social innovation charity and Chair of the Behavioural Insights Team (the Nudge Unit).

Mark Oliver is Chairman and Founder of Oliver & Ohlbaum Associates the leading independent strategic adviser to the media, sports and entertainment sectors, which he set up in 1995.

Prior to that he was the BBC’s first Head of Strategy for six years. He began his career as an anti-trust and regulatory economist, first with NERA Inc and then with PWC. Mark writes widely on strategic, commercial, investment and policy issues concerning the media and sport industries and has advised on many of the major events affecting the sector. Clients have included the BBC, the Premier League, UEFA, CVC, KKR, Arctos, Redbird,Manchester United, Liverpool, ITV, Channel 4, WBD, Sky, Liberty Global, BT, Bein Sports.

Alice Sherwood is the Co-Director of the Weekend of Mistakes. She is the author of the award-winning Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture (HarperCollins 2022), which argues that although our counterfeit culture is shaped by the most powerful forces of economics, evolution, and technology, we can still come together to reclaim reality. Currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at The Policy Institute at King’s College London, she has been a director of an open-source intelligence company, worked as a management consultant for Accenture, in retail strategy consultancy and private equity, and for the BBC in education and multimedia. She has under-graduate degrees in philosophy and in chemistry, an MBA from INSEAD, and an MA in literary criticism and narrative non-fiction. She is a trustee of the Hay Castle Trust, chair of the Beit Scientific Fellowship at Imperial Colleget, chair of the Rising Tide women’s network, and lives in London and Wales. Authenticity is Alice’s first book. It won a Royal Society of Literature Giles St Aubyn Award for Non-Fiction.

Anja Shortland is a Professor in Political Economy at King’s College London. She studied Engineering Science at Oxford and for her MSc in Political Economy and PhD in International Relations at LSE. Anja specialises in institutional economics and the economics of crime. She is fascinated by private ordering in the world’s trickiest markets: hostages, hijacked ships, stolen art, ransomware and protection for criminalised minorities. Her research focuses on trades between legal and illegal enterprises and mafia and insurance governance in criminal markets.

Anja latest book: We Know Can Pay A Million: Inside the Dark Economy of Hacking and Ransomware will be released by Profile Books in April 2026.