Political commentator, Alastair Campbell, is the keynote speaker at PwC’s Channel Islands’ series of summer client events taking in Jersey on 3 June and Guernsey on 4 June.
Well known for his role as former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s spokesman, press secretary and director of communications and strategy, Alastair remains a high profile writer, podcaster, communicator and campaigner. He co-hosts the podcast ‘The Rest is Politics’, engaging with global leaders in discussions that often touch upon financial policies and economic strategies. He splits his time between writing, speaking, broadcasting, charities and consultancy.
During a fireside chat hosted by PwC CI Partners Mike Byrne in Jersey and Evelyn Brady in Guernsey, Alastair will lead two thought-provoking afternoons of insight and discussion. Amongst other hot topics, he’ll provide his current assessment of UK and global politics, articulate his perspective on the direction of travel over the next 5-10 years of the UK as our key market, and explain the Channel Islands’ position within the EU, as well as taking questions from the 250+ audience in both Islands.
A local panel discussion chaired by PwC CI Partners Lisa McClure in Jersey and Adrian Peacegood in Guernsey will follow, featuring a high calibre of experienced presenters on the line up, who’ll draw on some of Alastair’s content and bring the conversation even closer to home.
In Jersey, the panellists include Gaelle Deschamps, Executive Leadership Trainer, Daragh McDermott, CEO at JT Group, Carl Howarth, Principal at Jersey College for Girls and Leyla Yildirim, Chief Strategy Officer at PwC CI.
In Guernsey, both Gaelle and Leyla will be joined on the panel by Justin Bellinger, Chair of the Innovate Guernsey Board and Daniele Harford-Fox, Principal of The Ladies’ College.
In a recent piece of thought leadership launched by PwC locally, 66% of Channel Islands’ CEOs said they saw lack of skills as the biggest challenge to business growth. This limited availability of skills risks impeding growth. Together, the panellists will explore what practical steps each Island can take to address this concern and to ensure we remain relevant, that we can be fast adopters of tech and agents of change, that we can actively drive innovation in our chosen sectors and, crucially, that we have a workforce of human capital that has the skills to drive and enable all of this to happen.
Commenting on the events, PwC CI Senior Partner, Nick Vermeulen, said: “We’re really excited to welcome Alastair as our distinguished speaker, whose thought-provoking insights and profound experience are sure to captivate our audience and it’s of no surprise that we’ve reached full capacity at each event.
“Alastair’s compelling content will undoubtedly ignite lively discussions about the markets we are engaged in and dovetail perfectly into our local panel discussions. With all the change in the world, our direction at PwC is to be bold, optimistic and collaborative and the same can be said for the Islands.
“We’re looking forward to expanding on this vision in the coming week, with invaluable contributions from both Alastair and our expert local panellists across both Jersey and Guernsey.”
