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Speakers at the 2008 Conference Information about the speakers for ACT Annual Conference will be available soon.
Johnny Cameron, Chief Executve, Corporate Markets, RBS
Day 1, 14:50 Plenary Session  Johnny Cameron is a Director of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, and Chief Executive of Corporate Markets, which includes the businesses of both Global Banking & Markets and UK Corporate Banking. Together they comprise 15,000 people, and generate revenues of £8.8 billion. He is also a Director of Citizens Bank in the USA and an alternate Director of Bank of China.
Johnny was born and brought up in Scotland and has travelled extensively throughout North and South America, Asia and Europe. He spent three years in Japan working for Jardine Matheson. He has a BA from Oxford University and an MSc from the Sloan School of Management MIT, Cambridge, Mass, USA. In 1981, Johnny joined McKinsey & Co. In 1983 he moved to County NatWest where he became Executive Director within three years of his appointment. Johnny then moved to Kleinwort Benson (1988), where, after a series of roles in the financing division, he became Co-Head of Global Finance of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson.
He joined the Royal Bank in June 1998 as Managing Director of Corporate and Institutional Banking and as a member of the board of the UK Bank, reporting to the Chief Executive. Following the acquisition of NatWest Bank he was responsible for the restructuring of the expanded corporate bank.
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Mervyn Davies, Chairman, Standard Chartered
Day 2, 08:40 Plenary Session  Mervyn Davies was appointed Chairman of Standard Chartered PLC in November 2006. Immediately prior to this Mervyn had been Group Chief Executive of Standard Chartered PLC since November 2001, having joined the Board as a Group Executive Director in December 1997.
He has a wide ranging banking background in the UK, US and Asia.
Mervyn joined the Board of Tesco as a Non Executive Director in July 2003. He was appointed Non Executive Director to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in June 2004. In September 2007, Mervyn was appointed Chairman of Fleming Family & Partners, having previously been a Non Executive Director.
In June 2007, Mervyn was appointed Chairman of the Government’s Business Council for Britain. He was also was appointed Chairman of the Interim Executive Committee of the International Centre for Financial Regulation (ICFR) in May 2007.
In April 2005, Mervyn accepted the role of Chairman to the Appeal Fundraising Board of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. He is also a Trustee of the Sir Kyffin Williams Trust. He has been a Director of the Hong Kong Association since August 2007.
He completed the Programme for Management Development at Harvard Business School and is a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers.
Mervyn was awarded a CBE for his services to the financial sector and the community in Hong Kong in June 2002 and is a JP in Hong Kong. He is married with two children and is a fluent Welsh speaker. He is a keen sportsman and is interested in Welsh art, music and reading. Mervyn was born in 1952. |
David Hodgkinson, Group Chief Operating Officer, HSBC Holdings plc
Day 1, 16:50 Plenary Session  David Hodgkinson is Group Chief Operating Officer for HSBC Holdings plc.
Since joining the company in 1969, his many roles have included CEO in the Philippines, Head of Human Resources for The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in Hong Kong, Managing Director of The Saudi British Bank, and CEO of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited. He assumed his present position in May 2006.
Mr Hodgkinson is currently Chairman of HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, of HSBC Bank A S Turkey and of the Arabian Gulf Investments (Far East) Limited. He is also a Director of HSBC Bank Egypt SAE, The Saudi British Bank, Bank of Bermuda Limited and HSBC Trinkaus Burkhardt.
David Hodgkinson was born in England in 1950, and is married with two children.
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Angela Knight, CEO, British Bankers’ Association
Day 3, 09:40 Plenary Session  After leaving Bristol University with an honours degree in chemistry, Angela worked for the American industrial gas company Air Products Ltd. She was the product development manager for the application and sales of nitrogen as an inert carrier during the treatment of ferrous metal components.
She went on to set up and was Chief Executive of a specialist contract heat treatment company treating precision engineering components - Cook & Knight Metallurgical Processors Ltd - and associated process plant manufacturing company.
From 1987 to 1992 she was Councillor and Chief Whip on Sheffield City Council. She entered Parliament in 1992 as MP for Erewash and was Economic Secretary to the Treasury between 1995 and 1997, when she lost her seat at the General Election. She was the Chief Executive of the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers from September 1997 to December 2006.
She is currently the Chief Executive of the British Bankers Association. She is also a non-executive director on the boards of LogicaCMG, IFSL, and Brewin Dolphin and a trust member of the Port of London Authority. |
Martin McCourt, CEO, Dyson
Day 2, 09:40 Plenary Session  Martin McCourt is Dyson's Chief Executive Officer. He joined Dyson at the end of 1996 and has held various positions including Chief Operating Officer and his current role which he took up at the end of 2001.
Since Martin joined Dyson the business has grown from £70m revenue to £500m, and from a UK business to a strong exporter trading in 45 countries.
Martin has been responsible for the development of Dyson's International business as well as the transfer of assembly from the UK to Malaysia. He set up Dyson USA in 2002, which achieved market leadership in under two years and is now Dyson's biggest business. He has also been responsible for the development of a new vacuum cleaner specifically for Japan in 2004 resulting in the only profitable domestic appliance product supplied to that market by a western manufacturer. He has established a successful business for Dyson across Europe, opening trading operations in each of the main territories.
In October 2006 Martin took Dyson into the commercial sector with the launch of the Dyson Airblade(tm) hand dryer - the fastest, most hygienic and energy efficient hand dryer. In just one year this machine has been launched in 15 markets worldwide.
Prior to joining Dyson Martin worked with the Mars organisation, Duracell and Toshiba. |
Andrew Neil, CEO, Press Holdings Media, Chairman, ITP and BBC Broadcaster
Day 3, 10:15 Plenary Session  "Nowadays companies are constantly lapped by wave after wave of huge upheaval and I think that puts a premium on agility, on creativity, and on adaptability of personnel".
Andrew Neil’s world-wide experience, coupled with his innate understanding of world media makes him a first class speaker over a wide range of topics including his dramatic vision of the future world of work, Electronic Commerce and the future for Europe. He pinpoints the new qualities needed and changes required that are essential to be successful in the future.
At the helm of The Sunday Times through much of the 1980’s and 1990’s, Andrew Neil had probably the highest public profile of any British Newspaper Editor this century. It is his ability to provoke discussion and challenge how people think that makes him a formidable communicator and leader. He is a witty and insightful speaker on The Information Revolution, Competing in the Electronic World, Leadership, The Learning Organisation, Change Management, and European Economy & Monetary Union.
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Esther Rantzen CBE
Day 1, 16:10 Facilitator - interactive treasury game show  A graduate from Oxford, Esther's career in broadcasting began with BBC Radio as a sound effects assistant. From there she moved into television as a researcher/reporter for Braden’s Week and then in 1973 as producer/presenter of That’s Life which was on air for 21 years. Esther has made a number of pioneering programmes on subjects such as British women’s experience of childbirth, stillbirth, mental health, child abuse and palliative care. She has also taken part in “reality shows” such as Strictly Come Dancing and the dating programme Would Like to Meet.
In 1986 she invented the concept of ChildLine, and chaired its Board of trustees for 20 years. After the merger of ChildLine with NSPCC in February 2006 Esther became President of ChildLine and a trustee of the NSPCC. She is a Patron of a number of other charities working with children and disabled people.
Esther contributes regularly to the Daily Mail and other publications and lectures on children’s issues, broadcasting and many other topics.
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James Smith, Chairman, Shell UK
Day 2, 09:10 Plenary Session  James Smith is Chairman of Shell UK. He has been with Shell since 1983 and has worked in all the Group’s major businesses.
Until the end of 2003 he was on the global board of Shell Chemicals as head of technology, strategy and sustainable development. He has been head of resourcing, which principally involved ensuring there is a highly talented and diverse group of leaders for the top 200 jobs in Shell. Much of his early career was in upstream oil and gas production, latterly in business development. He lived for 4 1/2 years in South-East Asia, in Malaysia and Brunei. He has been extensively involved in Shell business in a number of Middle Eastern countries and in the US. In addition he was MD of Shell’s downstream business in Brunei and chaired Shell’s global catalyst business during a period of restructuring for profitability.
James has a degree in physics and is a chartered accountant. Before joining Shell he worked with Accenture. He is married with one son. His hobbies include tennis, golf, skiing, hillwalking and the garden. |
James Wolfensohn, Former President, World Bank
Day 3, 11:15 Plenary Session  James D. Wolfensohn is Chairman of Wolfensohn & Company, LLC, a private investment firm and an advisor to corporations and governments. Mr. Wolfensohn became Chairman of Citigroup International Advisory Board on April 18, 2006. He is also advisor to Citigroup’s senior management on global strategy and on international matters.
Mr. Wolfensohn was the ninth president of the World Bank Group (since 1995). On May 31, 2005, at the end of his second term, he left office and assumed the post of Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement for the Quartet on the Middle East, a position he served until April 30, 2006. In this role, he helped coordinate Israel’s planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and spearheaded reconstruction efforts as Palestinians assumed sovereignty over the area. Mr. Wolfensohn is also the Chairman of the advisory group of the Wolfensohn Center, a new research initiative focused on global poverty, at the Brookings Institution.
Mr. Wolfensohn was the third president in the World Bank’s history to be reappointed for a second five-year term by the Board of Executive Directors. As President of the World Bank, he travelled to more than 120 countries in order to pursue the challenges facing the World Bank in regard to poverty and environmental issues. He led successfully initiatives on debt reduction, environmental sustainability, anti corruption programs, AIDS prevention and treatment. He developed activities on religion and culture and decentralised offices overseas linked by the most modern telecommunications system in the international community.
Prior to joining the Bank, Mr. Wolfensohn was an international investment banker. His last position was as President and Chief Executive Officer of James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., his own investment and corporate advisory firm set up in 1981 to work with major U.S. and international corporations. He relinquished his interests in the firm upon joining the World Bank.
Throughout his career Mr. Wolfensohn has also closely involved himself in a wide range of cultural and voluntary activities, especially in the performing arts.
He has served as Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University for the last 18 years.
In May 1995 he was awarded an Honorary Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the arts. Mr. Wolfensohn has also been decorated by the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, France, Japan, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Morocco, The Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Pakistan and Russia. | |
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