Full agenda for Creating the Good Economy confirmed

Will Hutton

Will Hutton is the Principal of Hertford College, Oxford University. He is also Chair of the Big Innovation Centre at The Work Foundation, the most influential voice on work, employment and organisation issues in the UK. Regularly called on to advise senior political and business figures and comment in the national and international media, Will is today one of the pre-eminent economics commentators in the country. He began his career in the City, as a stockbroker and investment analyst before moving to the BBC, where he worked both on radio, as a producer and reporter, and on TV as economics correspondent for Newsnight. Prior to joining The Work Foundation, Will spent four years as editor-in-chief of The Observer, for which he continues to write a weekly column. He also regularly contributes to The Guardian and the Financial Times.

Will’s best-known book is probably The State We’re In, which was seen at the time as setting the scene for the Blair revolution. Since then he has published The State to Come, The Stakeholding Society, On The Edge (with Anthony Giddens), a groundbreaking analysis of globalisation, and The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century. His latest book, Them and Us:Changing Britain – Why we need a fair society, was published last year by Little, Brown.  Will is a governor of the London School of Economics. He is a member of the Scott Trust board, and a fellow of the Sunningdale Institute. He is currently the chair of the Commission on Ownership, which is examining to what extent and how ownership matters, due to deliver its findings in autumn 2011. He also led the Public Sector Fair Pay Review which published its final report in March 2011. 

David McWillams

David is one of Ireland’s most respected commentators, beginning his career as the youngest economic advisor in the Maastrict Treaty negotiation team, and becoming Ireland’s bestselling non-fiction author. As Ireland’s leading economist he is a regular contributor to radio and TV on the current economic trends, currently writes a column for the Sunday Business Post and the Irish Independent and is author of the best selling book The Popes Children - a unique and brilliant survey of Ireland today. Most recently David has brought economics to the national theatre with his one-man-show “Outsiders” – a unique partnership with the Abbey Theatre.

David was nominated by the World Economic Forum at Davos as one of the young global leaders of 2007. This honour is bestowed each year by the World Economic Forum to recognise and acknowledge the top 250 young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, their commitment to society and their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. David has built a cast iron reputation in Irish finance, economics and politics as being an uncompromising thinker, fiercely independent and unforgivingly analytical in the way he looks at this country.

David regularly speaks to national and international corporate audiences highlighting the most important economic issues for organisations and accurately forecasting events and their repercussions.