2023 AESC Global Conference - London

Matthew Syed is an author and highly acclaimed speaker in the field of high performance. He has written seven best-selling books on the subject of mindset and high performance – Bounce, Black Box Thinking, Rebel Ideas, The Greatest, and his celebrated children’s books, What Do You Think?, You Are Awesome and Dare To Be You – and has worked with many leading organisations to build a mindset of continuous improvement. He is also a multi-award-winning journalist for The Times and The Sunday Times and presenter of the popular BBC Radio 4 programme, Sideways, currently in its sixth series. Matthew is a regular contributor to television and radio and, in his previous career, was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade.

In his most recent best seller – Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking - Matthew argues that individual intelligence is no longer enough to solve today’s complex problems; to truly succeed we must harness the power of 'cognitive diversity'. Rebel Ideas uncovers the best-kept secrets of the world's most successful teams, bringing insights from psychology, anthropology and data science, whilst drawing on a dazzling range of intriguing case-studies.

Matthew’s work explores a thought-provoking approach to high performance in the context of a complex and fast-changing world. By understanding the intimate connection between mindset and high performance, organisations can unlock untapped potential in individuals and teams, driving innovation and agility to secure
a future-proofed environment. A TEDx video of Matthew speaking about growth mindset can be viewed on YouTube.

Matthew is also co-founder of Matthew Syed Consulting (MSC); the company has worked with an impressive portfolio of clients to build growth mindset cultures and drive higher performance in individuals, teams and organisations. Matthew Syed Consulting’s cutting-edge thought leadership programme and digital learning tools are becoming a catalyst for real and lasting change within business and the public sector.

Matthew also works very closely with the education sector to help improve mindsets in schools and young people. He is an active founding member of the charity Greenhouse Sports and an ambassador for the PiXL Educational Foundation.

To find out more about Matthew’s work, visit: www.matthewsyed.co.uk or contact his team at team@matthewsyed.co.uk.

Tamara Box is the Managing Partner, EME, and Head of Structured Finance at international top 20 law firm Reed Smith. She is a member of the six person Senior Management Team and sits on the global board (Executive Committee) of the firm. Tamara has more than 24 years experience in advising arrangers, dealers, issuers and trustees in connection with a wide range of debt instruments (securitisations, project bonds, high yield, convertible and exchangeable bonds and islamic bonds/sukuk), the establishment of debt programmes, liability management, distressed and portfolio debt acquisitions and private placements. She also regularly advises on structured debt restructurings and workouts. She is dual qualified in England and New York.

Tamara is a recognised expert in the area of securitisation, having been regularly named a leading practitioner by each of the International Financial Law Review’s World’s Leading Structured Finance and Securitisation Lawyers, Legal 500's Legal Experts and Chambers’ UK Guide. She was awarded "Best in Structured Finance" at Euromoney's Women in Business Law Awards in 2011 and 2013. She was also named one of The Lawyer's "Hot 100" for 2014.

Tamara is a founding member of the Steering Committee of the 30% Club, a group of more than 100 UK Chairmen who have committed to the aspiration to have at least 30 per cent. of their boards be women by 2015.

Tamara is delighted to chair Cancer Research UK's Women of Influence initiative. She is also a member of the Court of Governors of the London School of Economics.

Tamara is a member of The Committee of 200 (C200), an invitation-only membership organisation of the world’s most successful women business leaders.

Specialties: Securitisation, structured finance, restructurings, work-outs, CMBS, EMTNs, debt capital markets, derivatives

Dr Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj is an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Diversity at HEC Paris in Qatar.

Shaheena is an expert in DEI, women’s leadership, and innovation. She works with public organizations, NGOs and private business leaders globally including FTSE100 and Fortune 500 to help them transform their cultures and strengthen workplace cultures.

She has worked on gender leadership policy for the UK Government and EU, participated in the Chatham House Gender Program. Between 2015 – 2018 she produced benchmarking reports on women in leadership across 52 countries leading to leadership policy reports for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings.

Shaheena, who holds a PhD in Family Business Management from the UK’s Brunel Business School, and she has attended education programs at Harvard Business School and Manchester Business School. She served as the chairperson of the Aga Khan Education Board from 2015 – 2021 with the remit for UK and Europe. Shaheena is on the advisory board for Qatar Women’s Engineering Association and Chair of the Women’s Council for the French Chamber of Commerce in Qatar. Shaheena is on the advisory board for Bright Network a UK based company supporting student recruitment.

Being a regular contributor to Forbes, she has also participated in BBC News, Yahoo News, CGTN, BBC Radio, The Financial Times, HR Journal, The Times and Management Today. Shaheena is a regular Forbes contributor and has co-authored three books: Futureproof your career, how to lead and succeed in the new normal (2021) (Bloomsbury Press) Championing Women Leadership Beyond Sponsorship (2018) (Palgrave MacMillan), Succession in Asian Family Firms (2005) (Palgrave MacMillan). Her latest book Take the Lead – Women and Innovation published by Kogan Page is due out in March 2024.