Executive Breakfast April 2024

Topic: Ballots & Business: Navigating the Elections in the US, the UK and in Europe in 2024

Verdier & Co.’s Executive Breakfast series’ 14th edition at The Lansdowne Club featured a Roundtable discussion around “Ballot and Business: navigating the Elections in the US, the UK, and Europe in 2024 and what It means for business and the M&A cycle”.

A heartfelt thank you to our esteemed speakers, Anna Rosenberg, Head of Geopolitics at Amundi Investment Institute, and Gavin Davies, Head of Global M&A Practice at Herbert Smith Freehills. Your profound insights into the dynamic interplay between politics and business were truly enlightening. Special thanks also to our Advisory Board member, Sir Andrew Likierman, whose adept moderation made navigating this complex landscape a bit easier.

Anna Rosenberg
Designation: Head of Geopolitics at Amundi Investment Institute

In her role as Head of Geopolitics, Anna helps Amundi and its clients make better investment decisions by seeing through ongoing global geopolitical shifts. Anna joined from Signum Global Advisors, where she was co-founder and Senior Partner responsible for the firm’s predictive research output focused on Europe. Anna helped grow the business into a rapidly growing and well-respected company. Before Signum, Anna helped executives at multinationals adjust their expansion plans across emerging markets. At Frontier Strategy Group (now
FrontierView), Anna launched and headed the Sub-Saharan Africa research practice and co-created the firm’s award-winning macroeconomic forecasting product. Anna has produced ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and research helping firms perform better in volatile environments. Her commentary on politics and business strategy has been featured in HBR, Bloomberg, the WSJ, BBC and CNBC. She is a Visiting Scholar at the London Institute of Banking & Finance and a BBC Expert Woman. Historian by training, she holds an MA (Distinction) from SOAS.

Gavin Davies
Designation: Head of Global M&A Practice at Herbert Smith Freehill

Gavin has significant expertise in public takeovers, private capital, strategic board advice and shareholder engagement. Particular focus on TMT, financial services, and real estate, and on advising US and Japanese clients. Gavin leads the Global M&A Practice, is a member of the governing Board of Herbert Smith Freehills, and is a member of the UK Government DIT Investment Trade Advisory Group (TAG). He led the private equity practice from 2006 to 2013. He works with, and is a former Chair of The International Lawyers Project, a leading international charitable organisation providing the skills of senior lawyers to promote human rights, sustainable economic development and the rule of law worldwide. Gavin was named in 2023 in The Financial News Fifty Most Influential Lawyers and has twice led teams winning
Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards.

Sir Andrew Likierman
Designation: Professor of Management Practice at London Business school

Sir Andrew Likierman is a faculty member of the London Business School and served as its Dean from 2009 till 2017. Sir Andrew has worked in the UK Cabinet Office and HM Treasury and has extensive board experience including as a Non-executive Director of the Bank of England, Barclays, and Times Newspaper Holdings Ltd. He has been Chair of the National Audit Office and market research firm MORI. He is currently Senior Independent Director of Monument Bank. He became a member of the Advisory Board of Verdier & Co. in 2023. His current research on human judgment was first published in the Harvard Business Review in 2020. A book is due in January 2025.