LSE Focal Point Podcast

Join us for another fantastic episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Dr. Athina Kanioura, the Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer at PepsiCo. Prior to her role at PepsiCo, she was the Chief Analytics Officer and Global Head of Applied Intelligence at Accenture where she led a team of 20,000 professionals focusing on Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Automation. Athina compl...

Join us for another remarkable episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Rupert Soames, the CEO of the outsourcing company Serco. Prior to his role at Serco, he was the Chief Executive of Aggreko and the Banking and Securities Division of Misys, as well as the Senior Independent Director and a member of the Remuneration, Nomination and Audit Committees of Electrocomponents. Rupert studie...

Join us for another interesting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Thomas Brunskill, the Co-Founder and CEO of Forage, the website that offers multiple free virtual work experience programmes. Prior to his role at Forage, he was an M&A Solicitor at King & Wood Mallesons and Corporate Lawyer at MinterEllison. Thomas studied at the Australian National University. Recorded in...

Join us for another brilliant episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Will Gardiner, the CEO of Drax Group. Prior to his role at Drax Group, he was the CFO of Drax, the CFO of CSR, a Group Board Member and CFO of Easynet Group and the Vice President European Telecoms Group at J.P. Morgan. Will graduated from the John Hopkins University for his Masters degree, and Harvard for his Bachel...

Join us for another inspiring episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Phillip Wright, a Managing Director and the European COO at PJT Partners. Prior to his role at PJT Partners, he was a Lead Account Management and Business Manager in the UK Chief Executive Office at UBS, and has also worked at Lloyds Bank and Citi. Phillip graduated from Nottingham Business School with a degree in Bu...

Join us for another exciting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by David Lloyd, the General Manager of UK, Netherlands and Nordics at Alibaba. Prior to his role at Alibaba, he was a Sector Lead in Retail and Technology at Google, and a consultant at Breakthrough, a human rights group. David graduated from the University of Oxford after studying English and French. Recorded in June 20...

Join us for another amazing episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Christian Berchem, the Head of Private Banking at Credit Suisse. Prior to his role at Credit Suisse, he was a Managing Director at Barclays Wealth and Investment Management and Head of Euro Equity Sales at J.P. Morgan. Christian graduated from Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management. Recorded in June 202...

Join us for another inspiring episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Luke Spells! Mr Spells is a Managing Director at Citi in the Investment Banking Division. Prior to his role at Citi, he worked at Hawkpoint specialising in UK M&A and before that was at Citi doing TMT Investment Banking. Luke is a graduate from the University of Bristol. Recorded in March 2021.

Join us for another exciting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Guy Hands! Mr Hands is the Founder and Chairman at Terra Firma Capital Partners, one of the largest Private Equity firms in Europe. Prior to founding Terra Firma, he was at Nomura International where he established the Principal Finance Group which eventually spun out to Terra Firma, and at Goldman Sachs International...

Join us for another interesting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Maximilian Kunkel! Mr Kunkel is the Chief Investment Officer in Global Family Office and a Managing Director at UBS. Prior to his current role, he has been the Regional Chief Investment Officer in Germany and Austria and the Head UHNW Investment Specialists in Latin America. Maximilian has completed a Masters at th...

Join us for another brilliant episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Spiro Youakim! Mr Youakim is a Managing Director and the Global Head of Natural Resources at Lazard. Prior to Lazard, he was a Managing Director at Citi and Vice President at Credit Lyonnais. Spiro has also completed a Masters in Business Administration at Institut Supérieur de Gestion. Recorded in March 2021.

Join us for another remarkable episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Andrew Koval! Mr Koval is the Global Co-Head of Leveraged Finance & EMEA Head of Global Credit Finance at State Street. In his role, Andrew manages a platform of over $10 billion in leveraged loan, CLO and fund finance investments. Prior to his role at State Street, he was a Credit Funds Manager at Intermediate...

Join us for another inspiring episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by David Chubak! Mr Chubak is the CEO of US Retail Banking at Citi. Prior to his present role at Citi, David has held roles including Head of Global Retail Bank & Consumer Lending and Head of Global Retail Bank & Mortgages. He has also been a Partner at McKinsey & Company. Currently David is the Chairman of...

Join us for an exceptional episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Brian Moynihan! Mr Moynihan is the CEO and Chairman at Bank of America (BoA). In 2020, he was named the CEO of the Year by the Chief Executive Magazine. After he graduated from Brown University and the University of Notre Dame Law School, Brian worked at Edwards & Angell LLP. He joined Fleet Boston bank and after it...

Join us for another exciting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Ken Walsh! Mr Walsh is the Head of Deals at PwC UK. As Head of Deals, he is responsible for PwC's Transaction Services, Corporate Finance, Forensics and Restructuring businesses. Ken has worked with many private equity and corporate clients in buying and selling assets globally. He is also a graduate of Dublin City Un...

Join us for another exciting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Hans Lorenzen! Mr Lorenzen is the Head of European IG Credit Strategy at Citi. Prior to his role at Citi, he was at BNP Paribas and ABN AMRO as Credit Strategists. Hans holds a Masters from LSE in Economics where he specialised in Econometrics and Monetary Economics.  Recorded in March 2021.

Join us for another fantastic episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Philipp Koch! Dr. Koch is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company. He is also the Leader of McKinsey's German Banking Practice and the Leader of McKinsey's European Asset Management Practice, with specialities in retail distribution, product management and organisational restructuring. Prior to McKinsey, Philipp g...

Join us for another interesting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Henry Jackson! Mr Jackson is the Founder and CEO of OpCapita. Before OpCapita, he was the Head of the European Consumer and Retail Group at Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Henry has degrees in Finance (Wharton) and International Relations (University of Pennsylvania) and is a member of the Executive Committee of t...

Join us for another brilliant episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by George Athanasopoulos! Mr Athanasopoulos is the Co-Head of Global Markets at UBS. Prior to UBS, he was the General Manager, Group Head of Trading, Sales and Structuring at Eurobank EFG, Managing Director, Global Head of FX Sales and Emerging Markets Sales at Barclays Capital and Managing Director, Head of FX Investor...

Join us for another remarkable episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Kevin Ellis! Mr Ellis is the Chairman and Senior Partner at PwC UK and Middle East Alliance. He joined PwC UK in 1984 in the Assurance division and shortly afterwards moved to the Business Recovery Services practice. In 1996 Kevin became a Partner at PwC UK, in 2006 the Head of Business Recovery Services, in 2008 th...

Join us for another fantastic episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Alistair Elliott! Mr Elliott is the Chairman and Senior Partner at Knight Frank. He joined Knight Frank on a graduate scheme and shortly afterwards became the Head of National Offices. Key projects include the acquisition of headquarters for Texaco in Canary Wharf and letting in 2000 of approximately 750,000 sq ft at...

Join us for another exciting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Clare Marchant! Ms Marchant is the CEO of UCAS. Prior to her role at UCAS, she was appointed the Worcestershire County Council's Chief Executive, where she led the organisation in delivering services for local residents and businesses. Clare has also worked in the NHS as a Chief Deployment Officer and at Deloitte as a...

Join us for another interesting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Matthew Ponsonby! Mr Ponsonby is the Head of Global Banking at BNP Paribas. Prior to his role at BNP Paribas, he was the Vice-Chairman of Banking and Co-Global COO of Barclays and was instrumental in developing its franchise across Europe. Matthew has also been a Managing Director at Citi and a Director at Deutsche...

Join us for another inspiring episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Rob Sim! Mr Sim is the Managing Partner at Europa Capital. Prior to his role at Europa Capital, he was the Associate Director at LaSalle Investment Management and Senior Surveyor at JLL. Rob is a graduate of the University of St Andrews and is currently an Urban Plan Volunteer at the Urban Land Institute. Recorded in...

Join us for another exciting episode at Focal Point where today we are joined by Tom Wedgwood! Mr Wedgwood is the Co-Founder of Newton Europe Limited. He established the consulting company with his co-founders with the aim to be 'different and better'. Prior to his role at Newton, Tom graduated from Cambridge studying engineering and was a civil engineer until he decided to change careers and work...