SPEAKER SERIES
The club regularly invites guests to give talks on their respective specialties both in-person and online. These talks are open to the public and are a part of the Club’s philosophy of ‘Learn, Earn, Return’; allowing both non-members and members to gain insights from experts in a range of fields. Tickets for these events are advertised on our social media platforms.
Hassan Elmasry - MBA
THE EVOLUTION OF CIVIC RIGHTS: PRACTICAL INSIGHTS FROM THE FORMER BOARD CHAIR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Hassan Elmasry joined Human Rights Watch’s London Committee in 2004, where he also sat on the Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee. Hassan was on the organisation’s board of directors from 2007 and served as the board’s co-chair from 2013-2019. He continues to support and advise on several human rights organisations around the world.
Hassan holds a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. He has over 30 years of investment experience managing equity portfolios and institutional clients. Hassan is the co-founder of Independent Franchise Partners, LLP, a London based asset management company, where he is currently the non-exec chair and advisor to partners. Previously, he was managing director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Hassan also teaches an investment workshop at the London Business School’s Investment Management Club and is currently writing a book about investing.
Michael Keating - FBA FRSE FAcSS
The Fractured Union: State and Nature in the UK
Professor Michael Keating FBA FRSE FAcSS, the General Secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the founding Director of the Centre on Constitutional Change in Edinburgh, joined us to discuss the question of state and nation within the United Kingdom.
Professor Keating has worked on various aspects of public policy-making in Scotland and abroad, focusing on how to promote and galvanise the innovation of policy. He is also the author or editor of over thirty books on Scottish politics, European politics, nationalism and regionalism. As Director of the ESRC Centre on Constitutional Change, Professor Keating has given evidence to the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee.
Sir Anton Muscatelli - FRSA FRSE FAcCS
Covid-19 and Economic Recovery
Sir Anton Muscatelli FRSA FRSE FAcSS, the Principal of the University of Glasgow and one of the United Kingdom's top economists, joined us to discuss how Covid-19 will condition economic recovery in tandem with higher education.
Sir Anton chairs the Scottish Government’s Standing Council on Europe, a non-political group that provides expert advice to Scottish ministers on protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU. He is also a member of the Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers. Since September 2017, he has acted as Chair of the Russell Group of Universities.
Kate Holt
Capturing Humanity and Lack thereof in Conflict Zones
Nominated three times for the Amnesty Award for Humanitarian reporting, Kate Holt have worked extensively throughout Africa and Afghanistan for the last 15 years. Kate trained in the News and Current Affairs department of the BBC before becoming a photographer. She has extensive experience of telling stories from very challenging environments. Kate has taught a wide range of organisations how to take photographs, write stories and improve their communication skills from African Union soldiers on the frontline in Mogadishu, to children in South Sudan. On February 4th, Kate shared the insight she gained while capturing humanity and lack thereof in conflict zones.
Michael Lessac
Making Theatre, Constructing Reality: the Psychophysics of Hope
Michael Lessac, founder of the Global Arts Corps, joined us for a discussion on making theater and its relationship with healing, reconciliation, and peace, guiding the conversation through his experiences dealing with the consequences of conflict through art.
Michael Lessac founded the Global Arts Corps, a diverse group of interdisciplinary theater artists, in order to bring together performers from opposite sides of a conflict or divide and create a space for the sharing of stories with the ultimate goal of fostering empathy, reconciliation, and healing from the wounds of the past. The group has worked in South Africa with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in Northern Ireland, and in Cambodia and has performed its productions in conflict zones around the world.
Nadereh Chamlou
From invisibility to prominence – why gender equality matters now more than ever
Nadereh Chamlou is an International Development Advisor. She was formerly a Senior Advisor at the World Bank. During her three-decade career with the World Bank Group, she held technical, coordination, managerial, and advisory functions in diverse economic and financial fields and in several regions. Among others, she coordinated for a decade the World Bank’s Gender agenda in the Middle East and North Africa.
She has authored several seminal works and currently serves on the boards of NGOs supporting women’s empowerment, entrepreneurship and start-ups, and academia. She went to Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Graduate School for Economics. She was the recipient of The International Alliance for Women’s 2015 “Making a Difference” Global Award.
Lord Jonathan Evans
National Security: Where are we Now?
Joining MI5 in 1980, Lord Evans began working in counter-espionage, then shifted his focus to domestic and international counter terrorism. Ten days before the 9/11 attacks in the United States, Lord Evans was appointed as Director of International Counter Terrorism. Following this role, he became Deputy Director General to Dame Eliza Manningham-Butler in 2005 before assuming his final posting as the Director General.
Retiring from the Service in 2013, Lord Evans has since been appointed Knight Commander of the Order of Bath (KCB) and become a Cross Bench life peer after personal nomination of the Prime Minister.
Lord Evans has unparalleled insight into the current national security climate both domestically and internationally. Deeply involved with the Security Service during the Irish Troubles, 9/11 attacks and rise of digital espionage, Lord Evans has a unique perspective on the challenges national security continues to face today.
Sir Danny Alexander
On Development Banking, Sustainable Development and Recovery Following Covid-19
Sir Danny Alexander, VP and Corporate Secretary of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, former Secretary to the Treasure and British MP (LD Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey), joined us from Beijing to discuss the role of multilateral development banks in the global economic governance of sustainable development and the role that these institutions will play in the recovery effort following Covid-19. He discussed time spent in British politics and third parties.
James D. Jameson
Entrepreneurship, Geopolitics and ‘How to Live a Good Life’
Mr James D Jameson, Global Entrepreneur, and businessman, joined us from California to discuss his long career building companies in developing and former communist countries, the future challenges and opportunities of our increasingly interdependent world economy, and how to live a "good life". Mr Jameson spoke about his time as an Assistant Secretary of Trade for the US government under President George H.W Bush.