Sir John Sawers & Thorold Barker

Sir John is Executive Chairman of Newbridge Advisory, which he founded in 2019 to advise corporate leaders on geopolitics and political risk. He is also a non-executive director of BP. Sir John has 36 years’ experience in diplomacy and intelligence, culminating in five years as Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 2009 to 2014. Prior to leading MI6 he was the UK’s Ambassador to the United Nations (2007-2009), Political Director of the Foreign Office (2003-2007), Special Representative in Iraq (2003), Ambassador to Cairo (2001-2003) and Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair (1999-2001). In his earlier career he worked overseas in Yemen, Syria, South Africa and Washington, and at home was involved in policy on the EU, Russia and the Middle East.

Thorold is the former Editor for Europe, Middle East and Africa at the Wall Street Journal. He was also the Journal’s masthead editor overseeing all global events and live journalism, including the CEO Council franchise. His live interviews have included Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Christine Lagarde, Rishi Sunak, David Attenborough, Satya Nadella, Ana Botin, Ryan Reynolds, Antony Blinken, Olaf Sholz. Before joining the Wall Street Journal in 2008, to recreate the paper’s Heard on the Street Column, he was U.S. Lex Editor for the Financial Times in New York. Thorold started his career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Co and has a degree in Modern Languages from Trinity College Cambridge.