Our People

John co-heads both our Macroeconomics and Financial Markets team, and our Expert witness and litigation support practice areas. He plays a major part in all of our conjunctural and other economic analysis. 

He has a broad experience, having worked in academia, international and then national policymaking, and in investment banking. Before advising HM Treasury during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis and its aftermath, and co-founding the firm in 2009, John was Global Chief Economist and then Senior Economic Policy Advisor at Lehman Brothers. This followed almost twenty years at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where he was successively Head of International Forecasting and Policy Analysis and Editor of the OECD Economic Outlook; Deputy Director for Social Affairs, Manpower and Education, and finally Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General. 

Prior to that he spent nearly ten years at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Cambridge, and was also a Fellow of St. John’s College. 

John holds an undergraduate degree from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and a doctorate from the University of Oxford. He has published widely.

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Preston leads the organisation on all aspects of strategy, team leadership and operations, and key client and assignment management across its global network.

An experienced business leader, Preston also works substantively on all projects, and has written on and led projects on subjects ranging from the decarbonisation of industry to ESG, digitalisation, and technology, including importantly a specialist series on new technologies that stand to have practical application in industries over the coming ten years. 

Before co-founding the organisation in 2009 he spent ten years at the industrial coalface serving in various senior roles on corporate strategy, business development, communications, and marketing.

Preston holds a BA and an MSc (Maitrise Sc. Ec.) in Economics with French from the University of Sussex and the University of Grenoble, and an MBA from Imperial College, London.

Terry is an industrialist, Chairman, non-executive Director, and business advisor.

He is Chair of the Institute of Export & International Trade, Talent Retention Solutions (TRS), and is an advisor to a number of companies.From 2010-17 Terry was the CEO of the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) representing some 20,000 UK companies at the highest levels of government including sitting on a number of high profile Ministerial Committees.

During his tenure at the EEF he served, from 2010-1017, as Chairman of the Council of European Employers for the Metals, Manufacturing and Technologies industries representing some 230,000 companies at the top tables in Brussels and EU member state capitals.

Prior to joining EEF Terry was Managing Director of Ferranti Technologies which he transformed from loss making and decline into a highly successful and profitable organisation.

Terry is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and has a Masters degree in Political Economy and Economic History from the University of Glasgow.

Dimitri heads our Sustainability practice Area and is also a core member of our Macroeconomics and Financial Markets team.

An internationally reputed economist, Dimitri advises governments, banks, financial institutions, NGOs, and other international organisations and corporations on sustainability, climate change, innovation, economic modelling, and clean urbanisation.

He set up the Wealth Economy Project at the Bennett Institute at the University of Cambridge, is a visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics (LSE), Chair of the Wealth Committee for Capital Generation Partners, and a member of the London Sustainable Development Commission.

Prior to this he served as Head of the Grantham Research Institute at the LSE and Chief Economist for the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate.

He was also lead author on the ground-breaking Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and worked at HM Treasury as Head of Economic Forecasting. 

Dimitri holds a BA from the University of Oxford and an MSc from the University of Bristol.

Silja co-heads the firm’s Sustainability practice area. She is also a core member of the firm’s Macroeconomics and Financial Markets team and part of the Expert witness and litigation support team.  Silja is a key contributor to the firm’s bespoke research projects, and to the regular macroeconomic analysis. She has a particular specialisation in environmental and technology issues. Silja has produced an important suite of corporate briefs on the environmental impacts of a wide range of sectors and activities, many of which have been published by the Sustainable Markets Initiative, launched by the former Prince of Wales.  Prior to joining the team, Silja was a Senior Investment Analyst at GLC Global Macro hedge fund, where she was responsible for macroeconomic research and market analysis, with a primary focus on emerging markets and FX. Before that, Silja worked for Lehman Brothers as an Emerging Markets Economist, focusing on Central and Eastern Europe. While at the bank Silja was responsible for macroeconomic forecasts and market analysis, leading meetings with the region’s policymakers, speaking with journalists, and contributing regularly to the weekly and monthly publications. ​Silja holds a first-class honours degree in Economics and Business Administration from Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, and an MSc in Economics from Stockholm School of Economics.

Simon forms part of Independent Economics’ Sustainability team. Simon is Managing Partner of Altura Partners (www.alturapartners.org) which provides strategic and economic policy advice to top level decision makers in governments and companies in emerging markets. He has worked extensively on emerging markets including at senior levels in the World Bank in Washington DC and in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London with which he continues to be associated. 

He holds an MA from Oxford University and a PhD from Cambridge University.

Peter heads our Technology Transformation practice area. His expertise is gleaned over 25 years in the energy sector, working for an oil major and joint venture partners around the world. His current focus is in maritime technology and business transformation through delivering ‘digitalization and decarbonisation solutions’ for traditional and renewable energy clients. 

Peter has worked extensively on the strategic development and deployment of new technology in the energy sector, specifically robotic Marine Autonomous Systems (MAS). He has supported many pre-commercial developments of technology, both under and on the water, small and large. He is a member of the robotics committees for UKRI (Innovate UK Government) and is Industry Lead for NERC’s Net Zero Oceanographic Capability project, aiming to decarbonise the UK’s scientific fleet by 2035. 

He conducts technology R&D and M&A activity in the maritime sector for a variety of clients, holds a PhD in Marine Ecology from the University of Hong Kong and is a Fellow of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST).

Steve is based in New York and heads our Strategic planning & organisational effectiveness practice area. He is an adviser to a number of UK and international corporations, government agencies, and NGOs. He is also Chair of the United Nations Population Fund Association (UNFPA) Oversight Advisory Committee and sits on and advises several boards in both the public and private sector advising on strategic transformation and change management. Prior to that he was the CEO of Reach to Teach, an international organisation which partners with government and like-minded organisations to improve the quality of primary education in underdeveloped countries.  Steve has wide-ranging senior level experience in international organisations and NGOs. From 2013 to 2017 he served as the United Nations Assistant General Secretary for the Office of Central Support Services in New York, responsible for the Secretariat’s multi-billion dollar global procurement budget and overseeing property management and major construction and renovation projects worldwide. Prior to that he was Assistant General Secretary for Corporate Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. He started his intergovernmental career at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where he served as Chef the Cabinet and Deputy Executive Director. Steve holds an executive MBA from INSEAD as well as a first class honours degree in American studies and English literature, and an Honorary Doctorate from Keele University.

Nick is the CEO and co-founder of the strategic advisory company, Gatehouse Advisory Partners and geopolitics lead. His focus is on working with governments, businesses, and civil society to identify and interpret critical geopolitical themes. Nick has a broad corporate background, having worked in Banking, management consulting, and corporate affairs. He also played rugby professionally (Wasps, Quins, and England).

A former Deputy Commander of Coalition Forces in Iraq, a Brigade Commander in Northern Ireland and Director General of the United Kingdom Defence Academy, Andrew is an acknowledged expert in global defence and security and the wider geo-political challenges of emerging threat levels, conflict, post-conflict and disaster recovery and nation building.

He has served as a non-executive Director of a major UK Government department, been closely involved in three UK national Defence and Security Reviews and has worked as an Advisor and Ambassador to a number of international Corporations, Agencies and Organisations.

Andrew is a graduate of Cambridge University where he studied Languages and History.

Soyon is a core member of the Macroeconomics and Financial Markets team focussing on the firm’s regular integrated suite of analytic products, where she is responsible for the Global Economy and Outlook (GEO) pack, Key Developments, and MacroPlus, as well as on in-depth reports on key topics and themes.  Soyon also contributes to our sustainability team working with clients on bespoke research. In particular, Soyon has contributed to a suite of sustainability briefings designed to inform a series of Sustainable Markets Initiative meetings convened by HRH the Prince of Wales, and attended by senior business executives. ​Prior to joining the team, Soyon worked at the University of Sussex and InterAnalysis, where she gained her initial experience in research, data analysis, and quantitative research. Her work focused on international trade, and business economics. Soyon holds a BSc in Economics with honours from the University of Sussex, and is currently studying part-time Master’s degree in Risk, Disaster, and Resilience at University College London (UCL).

James contributes to the Technology Transformation practice area, and to our Technologies series. As an industrial research scientist, he focusses in particular on areas of science and technology with relatively immediate business applications – to date some 50 topics have been covered, ranging from brain computer interfaces, to carbon capture, storage, and utilisation (CCUS).

Prior to his move to the Hague in early 2022, James was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungzentrum (DRFZ) in Berlin, and a Fellow at the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), where he provided research on Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) regulation.

James holds a BSc from the University of York and a PhD from the University of Birmingham.

Michael joined Independent Economics in 2022 and is the newest member of the team.  Michael works primarily on the firm’s bespoke research projects, where he covers a wide range of areas, including tax policy and data privacy. Michael is highly numerate, with experience in econometrics and broader statistical analysis. He also contributes to the firm’s IT and business operations. Prior to joining the IE team, Michael worked for Llewellyn Consulting on input-output analysis, and on a range of sustainability projects, where he researched and wrote a number of reports. Before that he held a number of analysis roles in asset management, commercial banking, and market research in the UK and Asia. Michael was brought up in Singapore, and holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) from the University of Exeter.