15th Risk Summit (2024)

John Thornhill is the Innovation Editor at the Financial Times writing a weekly column on the impact of technology. He is also the founder and editorial director of Sifted, the FT-backed site for European startups, and founder of FT Forums, which hosts monthly meetings for senior executives.

John was previously deputy editor and news editor of the FT in London. He has also been Europe editor, Paris bureau chief, Asia editor, Moscow correspondent and Lex columnist.

John Thornhill is the Innovation Editor at the Financial Times writing a weekly column on the impact of technology. He is also the founder and editorial director of Sifted, the FT-backed site for European startups, and founder of FT Forums, which hosts monthly meetings for senior executives.

John was previously deputy editor and news editor of the FT in London. He has also been Europe editor, Paris bureau chief, Asia editor, Moscow correspondent and Lex columnist.

Michael Okoroafor is McCormick’s Chief Sustainability Officer. In his role, he is responsible for the development and execution of an enhanced sustainability strategy, working with commercial and communications teams, and building on our foundation to ensure that our successes in this area continue to be recognized in the global market. His focus is working across the organization, through the Purpose-led Performance (PLP) Governing Council, to develop and drive our strategy both internally and externally.

Dr. Okoroafor joined McCormick in 2015, and most recently served as Vice President, Global Sustainability and Packaging Innovation. Prior to his tenure at McCormick, he was Vice President for Packaging and R&D at H.J. Heinz Company, where he was responsible for setting overall global strategy and direction for the packaging organization and leading external innovation across North America. He has also held key leadership roles at other consumer goods and manufacturing companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and PPG Industries, Inc.

Dr. Okoroafor holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of Nigeria, a Master’s degree in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Detroit, and a Ph.D. in Organic Polymer Chemistry from Michigan State University. He is also a graduate of the Executive Development Program at Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University.

Dr. Okoroafor is an inventor with over 40 patents, has been published in over 35 technical publications, and is a contributing author to the “Handbook of Plastic Foams.” He serves on the Board of Directors for AMERIPEN (American Institute for Packaging and the Environment) and as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP). He serves as a member of the Engineering & Science Advisory Board for the University of Detroit – Mercy, the Consumer Brand Association Packaging Sustainability Council, the American Chemical Society, the Institute of Food Technologists and the Society of Plastics Engineers. Dr. Okoroafor was inducted into the Packaging and Processing Hall of Fame in 2018 and is a 2020 Honoree to the Environment+Energy Leader 100 (E+E100). He is also a member of the Maryland Department of the Environment’s Extended Producer Responsibility Program Advisory Committee.

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, focusing on geopolitics and the globalised economy as well as new national security threats. She’s also a columnist with Foreign Policy and Politico Europe and the author Goodbye Globalization: The Return of a Divided World (Yale University Press, February 2024).

Elisabeth was previously a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington and a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. She’s the author of God’s Spies, about the Stasi’s church division (2019), The Defender’s Dilemma: Identifying and Deterring Gray-Zone Aggression (2022), a member of GALLOS Technologies’ advisory board, a member of the UK National Preparedness Commission, a member of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy’s advisory council (on leave), a member of the Aurora Forum’s steering committee, and an adviser to Willis Towers Watson’s research arm. Before joining academia, she worked in the private sector following a career as a journalist. She’s a regular op-ed contributor to the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Times (of London).

Richard Wilson was born in Wales and took his degrees at Clare College Cambridge (1961-1965). He was called to the Bar but, rather than practice, entered the Civil Service in the Board of Trade in 1966.

He subsequently served in a number of departments including 12 years in the Department of Energy where his responsibilities included nuclear power policy, the privatisation of Britoil, and personnel and finance. He headed the Economic Secretariat in the Cabinet Office from 1987-1990, working directly with Mrs Thatcher on most domestic issues. After two years in the Treasury he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Department of the Environment in 1992 and Permanent Under Secretary of the Home Office in 1994. He became Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service in January 1998.

On his first retirement in 2002 he was elected Master of Emmanuel College Cambridge and served from 2002-2012. In the private sector he was a non-executive director and the board of BSkyB for 10 years and chairman of C Hoare & Co, the private bank, from 2006-2016. He had various charitable interests. He currently attends the House of Lords as a cross bencher, and is a Life Fellow of Emmanuel College. He delivers occasional lectures in the University.

He is married to Caroline and they have two children and two grandchildren.

Professor Daniel Ralph is a Founder and Director of the Centre for Risk Studies, Professor of Operations Research at Cambridge Judge Business School, and a Fellow of Churchill College.

Daniel received his PhD in 1990 from the University of Wisconsin Madison. He was a faculty member of the Mathematics & Statistics Department at the University of Melbourne before coming to Cambridge University for a joint appointment in the Engineering Department and Cambridge Judge Business School.

Daniel’s research interests include: risk in business decision making; risk aversion in electricity markets; methods and models for optimisation problems and equilibrium systems. Specific projects undertaken in collaboration with the banking and insurance industry (Catlin, HSBC, ICBC, Lloyd’s, Munich Re, Risk Management Solutions, Swiss Re) cover emerging risk scenarios, financial stress testing and a global ranking of cities by risk exposure. Engagements with other sectors include electricity consultancies (Artelys, LCP), oil and gas (Shell Exploration, Statoil) and retail (BT Retail, Gap) on decision making under high uncertainty. Public service contributions to the UK Cabinet Office, UK Industry and Parliamentary Trust, UK Office of the Government Chief Scientific Advisor, and United Nations World Humanitarian Summit.

Professor Ralph is a member of the Australian Mathematical Society, INFORMS, the Mathematical Optimization Society and SIAM. He was Editor-in-Chief of Mathematical Programming (Series B) from 2007-2013 and has served on the editorial boards of Mathematics of Operations Research and the SIAM Journal on Optimization, as well as the SIAM-MPS book series on optimisation.