Name: Lord Digby Jones

Position: UK Trade & Investment Business Ambassador

Biography: Former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry, he is an active cross-bencher in the House of Lords and served in Gordon Brown’s first cabinet, dubbed “The Cabinet of All The Talents”. He currently serves as Chairman of the International Business Advisory Board at HSBC, as Chairman of Triumph Motorcycles Limited and is Corporate Ambassador for Jaguar Cars and JCB. He advises in a number of other paid and unpaid roles, fulfilling his vision of promoting socially inclusive wealth creation.

His graduation from University College, London was followed by 20 years with Edge & Ellison, a Birmingham-based firm of lawyers, where he worked his up from Articled Clerk to Senior Partner. In 2000 he joined the CBI and was able to put some of these ideas into action. During his six and a half years as Director General he became known in the public arena especially for his candid, forthright attitude in his many media appearances. He campaigned relentlessly on a range of issues including the move from traditional manufacturing of commodities to value-added, innovative products and services. When he left the CBI in 2006 he spent the next 12 months in the private sector as adviser to Deloitte and Barclays Capital, held a variety of non-executive board roles, and was the unpaid UK Skills Envoy. One of the most charismatic speakers of our times, it is indeed an honour to welcome him at Warwick Economics Summit 2010.

Summit Talk: Recovery? - The Global Perspective