NEC Speakers

The New Enlightenment Conference convenes global leaders and practitioners to explore the forces shaping our future. Guided by the principles of Adam Smith, the Conference seeks to advance understanding as we navigate today’s most complex economic, social, political, and technological challenges. 

Across keynote addresses, plenary panels and Q&A’s, speakers will challenge assumptions, foster dialogue, and inspire new approaches to building a more prosperous, ethical, and innovative society.

Conference Chair

  • Professor Dixon holds the Adam Smith Chair at Panmure House. A leading scholar of state capitalism and sovereign wealth funds, he has advised organisations including the OECD and European Commission. His recent book, The Spectre of State Capitalism, examines the evolving relationship between states, markets, and global political economy. Professor Dixon earned his D.Phil. from Oxford and hosts the New Enlightenment podcast.

Gala Dinner Address

  • Dr Gregg is President and Friedrich Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research. An expert in political economy and economic history, he has authored 17 books, including the prize-winning The Next American Economy and, the forthcoming The Civilization of Commerce. Gregg holds a D.Phil. from Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. 

Closing Address

  • Chief Executive Officer at Malu Health, Joseph is a business builder known for leadership and scaling complex organisations. As co‑founder of Judo Bank, he led the business from inception to IPO in four years, establishing it as one of the Asia‑Pacific’s fastest‑growing companies. With six advanced degrees, including in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health, Joseph now applies the same approach at Malu, building a world-class, scalable, technology‑enabled mental health company. He is the author of ‘What would Adam Smith Make of Modern Australia?’ (2025) 

NEC Reflections

  • David J. Teece is Professor in the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley and Executive Chairman Emeritus of Berkeley Research Group. A leading scholar of innovation and strategy, he developed the dynamic capabilities framework and contributed to competition and innovation policy. He advises governments and corporations globally and has founded multiple successful ventures. Teece has been ranked the world’s top management scholar by Clarivate and recognized by Thinkers50 as a Distinguished Management Thinker. 

Capitalism After ESG

Keynote Speaker

  • Sonia has a portfolio of Board NED roles spanning the endowment, asset management and public pension sectors.  She is Chair of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation GP Board, a $7 billion philanthropy. She is also on the boards of Local Pensions Partnership Investments and the Pension Protection Fund, in combination overseeing pension assets over £65 billion. Formerly Global Head of Solutions at Aberdeen, she has held senior roles at Aon, State Street, and WTW. Sonia holds an MBA from London Business School, and is an alumni of Heriot Watt and Birmingham University with degrees in Actuarial Statistics and Economics.

  • Dr Monk is a Senior Research Engineer at the School of Engineering and Executive Director of the Research Initiative on Long-Term Investing at Stanford University. With over 20 years of experience studying and advising investment organisations, he has authored seven books and hundreds of papers on institutional investing. Professor Monk has also co-founded several companies that help investors make better investment decisions.

Moderator


  • Dame Anne is an award-winning CEO and Chair with over 40 years’ experience in financial services and technology. She has held senior roles at Prudential, M&G, Aberdeen Asset Management, and Fidelity International, and currently serves as Chair of Coutts & Co and NED at Land Securities.
    She is a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and a Dame Commander, with honorary degrees from The University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. 

Panellists

  • Dr Shah is Managing Director and Global Head of Washington, Sustainability and Transition Strategy at Jefferies. He advises clients on public policy and investment, and leads research on energy transition and sustainable business, with his team ranked #1 globally for sustainability and thematic research. Previously, he held senior roles across finance and sustainable development, including at the UN SDSN, OppenheimerFunds and UBS. He teaches at Columbia SIPA and holds degrees from Yale and Oxford.

  • Merryn is an Editor at Large, UK Wealth for Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast. She was previously Editor in Chief of MoneyWeek, which she helped launch and led to become the UK’s best‑selling financial magazine. A long‑standing Financial Times columnist, her journalism has appeared across major UK publications, and she is a frequent commentator on national TV and radio. Merryn has received multiple awards for excellence in financial journalism and is the author of Love is Not Enough and Share Power. 

Geoeconomic Competition and the New Wealth of Nations

  • His Excellency Ihsan Bafakih is a seasoned Saudi business leader with extensive experience across investment, real estate, and financial services. A former Governor of the State Properties General Authority, he has led major initiatives including the Thakher project in Makkah and strategic partnerships with the Aramco Retirement Fund. His career spans key roles at MODON, NCB, and HSBC. He is Vice Chairman of Al Nahla Group and chairs several influential boards, including Al Bilad Capital and Sulaiman Al Rajhi Holding. He also serves on multiple high‑impact boards and committees. He holds global executive qualifications and was recognized as the Middle East’s Best Public Sector CFO in 2010.

  • Rosamund leads IISS Advisory, the Institute’s geopolitics and geoeconomics advisory practice, supporting corporations, institutions and defence organisations. She works with decision-makers to interpret geopolitical developments and their implications for policy, markets, supply chains, investment and risk. Her expertise sits at the intersection of geopolitics and global finance, including economic statecraft. Previously, she was Head of Geopolitical Risk, Financial Crime Compliance at a unit of the world’s largest bank, and earlier held senior roles in due diligence and research.

  • Shruti is a geoeconomics and strategic policy professional working at the intersection of state power, markets, and economic security. She currently leads strategic partnerships at StoneBench, while her broader work focuses on advising institutions and corporates on geopolitical risk, regulatory exposure, and cross-border strategy. She works globally, writing on and curating dialogues around geoeconomic fragmentation, industrial policy, and strategic autonomy. 

  • George is a former Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore and served in multiple cabinet positions, including Trade and Industry and Health, during his distinguished political career. A former Brigadier-General in the Singapore Armed Forces, he played a key role in shaping Singapore’s economic and foreign policy. George studied engineering at Cambridge and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar.

Panellists

  • Sir Paul is a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School‘s Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government (since late-2013). Writing at the intersection of political economy and political theory, he is author of Global Discord, and Unelected Power. He is currently writing a book, under contract with Princeton UP, on how David Hume and Adam Smith can help preserve liberal democracy. From 1980 to 2013, he was a central banker in the UK and Basel.

Keynote Speaker

Moderator

Economic Dynamism

  • Dr Streeter is Executive Director of the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously served as Director of Domestic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and held senior roles in government, including policy adviser to President George W. Bush. Ryan has authored and edited multiple books on public policy and writes widely on governance and innovation. He holds a Ph.D. in political philosophy from Emory University.

  • Sam Bowman is Editor of Works in Progress and Head of Publishing at Stripe. He writes the newsletter Consumer Surplus and is known for influential essays on economic growth, governance, and housing policy, including Britain is a Developing Country and The Housing Theory of Everything. Sam brings expertise in policy reform and systemic challenges, offering evidence-based ideas to unlock growth and improve living standards.

  • Julia is Co-Founder of the Centre for British Progress, specialising in AI policy, economic immigration, and research commercialisation. She has held roles at Schmidt Futures, founded a startup, and worked at the intersection of technology and policy. Julia holds degrees from the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and brings insights on harnessing talent and innovation to drive competitiveness and economic growth. 

  • Professor W. Brian Arthur is an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, the founder of complexity economics, and pioneered modern work on positive feedbacks and increasing returns, showing how small events can lock in dominant players — ideas central to understanding today’s high‑tech economy. He is the author of several books including The Nature of Technology: What it Is and How it Evolves and Complexity and the Economy. He is formerly Morrison Professor at Stanford University, and recipient of major awards including the Schumpeter Prize and the Lagrange Prize. 

Panellists

  • Dr Barbary is Senior Director at the Milken Institute, following nine years as director of strategy and communications at the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF). Before joining IFSWF in 2016, she spent a decade working with sovereign wealth funds and asset owners as a consultant, entrepreneur, journalist and thought‑leadership specialist. She holds a PhD in history from Cambridge and previously served as a senior researcher at Bocconi University’s Sovereign Investment Lab. 

Keynote Speaker

Moderator

AI and Human Flourishing

  • Sebastien is the Frontier Policy Development Lead at Google DeepMind, where he focuses on the governance of frontier AI systems. He previously served as a Senior Technology Policy Researcher at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Centre and Head of Regulation at the UK Government's Office for Artificial Intelligence. A former international lawyer at firms including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Seb brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to the intersection of technology, law, and economics.

  • Brendan is founder of Cosmos Institute, a nonprofit that trains philosopher-builders for the AI age. Previously, he founded two AI startups ($400M combined exits), built the first applied AI organisation for the U.S. Department of Defence, and spent 610 days underwater as a submarine officer. He graduated from MIT and Harvard and teaches AI x Philosophy at Oxford. He lives in Austin with his wife and two children.

Panellists

  • Dr Perszyk is a cognitive scientist at Amazon's AGI Lab, where she focuses on building AI that aligns with and augments human intelligence. She previously developed research programmes at Google and Adept to collect human feedback for training AI models. Danielle studied the developmental and evolutionary origins of language and social cognition at Williams College, Yale, and Northwestern, where she received her PhD.

  • Whitney holds the role of Distinguished Expert in Strategy at McKinsey & Company. He leads McKinsey’s research and counselling on strategy practices and leadership approaches, and advises McKinsey’s research on the future of organisational design and transformation. He advises senior leaders across all industries. Prior to joining McKinsey, Whitney worked as an electrical engineer in the automotive and semiconductor manufacturing industries and co-founded a start-up that developed an AI-enabled children’s learning companion. 

  • Dan Williams is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sussex and writes the newsletter Conspicuous Cognition. His research looks at why people believe what they do, how false and misleading ideas spread, and the roles that experts, polarisation, and new technologies play in shaping public opinion and democratic life.   

  • Steve Gotz is a global research & innovation leader with over 25 years of experience working at the intersection of technology, finance, and government. As Head of Innovation at the Dubai International Finance Center (DIFC), he leads Dubai’s flagship platform for AI, FinTech, and startup growth, spearheading initiatives such as the Dubai AI Campus, the National Venture Building Programme, and the Emerging Risks Lab. With a background spanning applied R&D, venture creation and large-scale economic development programmes, Steve has advised global corporations, financial institutions, and governments across five continents on aligning frontier technologies with strategy, policy and execution to drive long-term economic impact. He is a frequent speaker on the future of innovation, human creativity, AI governance, and economic transformation. 

Keynote Speaker

Moderator