NASA - it’s not rocket science

Stephen Carver B.Sc M.Sc C.Eng EurIng AMBA MAPM
The Royal Institution / Oxford University

Stephen is rated as one of the top 3 lecturers at Europe’s top Business Schools - Cranfield. He has a reputation of taking complex management concepts and being able to distil them down, into highly informative and fun lectures - often using “storytelling” techniques. His attitude is “if you haven’t done it – you shouldn’t be teaching it!”

Unusually, for an academic, he has actually has spent most of his working life in real business and still runs his own, highly successful, project management company (his client list now reads like the FTSE/Dow top 100!)

Stephen is an unusual blend of academic, businessman and teller of tales. He has taught in UK, US, Holland, Germany, France, Portugal, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, and has appeared on national radio and TV.

Leadership in uncertain times

General Sir Mike Jackson GCB CBE DSO

Senior Advisor at PA Consulting Group and former Chief of the General Staff

General Sir Mike Jackson GCB CBE DSO served as Chief of the General Staff (CGS) from February 2003 to August 2006. After a highly distinguished career in the British Army, spanning more than four decades, he is now Senior Advisor at PA Consulting Group.

Prior to his appointment as CGS, General Sir Mike Jackson served most recently as Commander in Chief Land Command (from 2000), Commander Kosovo Force (in 1999), Commander ACE Rapid Reaction Corps (from 1997) and Director General Development and Doctrine.

General Sir Mike Jackson has seen considerable active service: he commanded at company and brigade level in Northern Ireland, as a divisional commander in Bosnia, and as a corps commander in Macedonia and Kosovo.

Controlling risk, respecting rights

Shami Chakrabarti CBE LLB

Director of Liberty

Must we choose between security and freedom?  Or are we only really safe when our rights are protected?  Does the risk of terrorism and direct action by extremist organisations justify a strong response from governments and the increasing use of technological surveillance and monitoring techniques?  Shami Chakrabarti, Director of the human rights group Liberty, will help risk professionals in both the public and private sectors consider the practical and ethical issues of managing these risks.

Shami Chakrabarti has been Director of Liberty since September 2003.  A Barrister by background, she was called to the Bar in 1994 and worked as a lawyer in the Home Office from 1996 until 2001 for Governments of both persuasions.

Responding to Risk: rights, responsibilities and  reaction

Rick Haythornthwaite

Chairman of the UK Goverment Risk and Regulation Advisory Council

It is neither possible nor desirable to control every risk in life. If we over-regulate to remove risk we also stand to lose adventure, creativity, compassion and self-reliance, not to mention reward. Policymakers start with the best of intentions, yet problems with perceptions, communication and complexity mean that the final outcome is often far from what was intended. In January 2008 the UK government established the Risk and Regulation Advisory Council to be the voice of common sense in public policy. Rick Haythornthwaite, chairman of the Council, will talk about  the innovative work of the Council in promoting more proportionate responses to risk in policy making across Whitehall and beyond.

Rick was previously the Chairman of the Better Regulation Commission, yet his career is firmly built on the risks of the world of business: he started his career with BP and has since worked as the commercial director of Premier Oil, Chief Executive of Blue Circle plc and, most recently, Chief Executive of Invensys plc. Rick is also a partner at Star Capital Partners Limited and also holds a number of board positions in the arts world.