Accelerating Systemic Transformation: A Case Study from Wales (UK)

Wednesday, November 10th, 2021
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EDT
via Zoom

This was an IIEP/ASU-Thunderbird event on Wednesday, November 10th, entitled “Accelerating Systemic Transformation: A Case Study from Wales (UK).” It featured Jyoti Banerjee (North Star Transition), Jenny Scott (Apella), and Victoria Topham (Wales Transition Lab).

The Wales Transition Lab (WTL) is a systemic nation-scale program across Wales that reconnects food, health, and nature to deliver solutions that address the root causes of a widespread decline in wellbeing. Launched in October 2020 by North Star Transition, WTL brings together over thirty leaders across food, farming, environment, water, business, education, and health sectors across Wales around bold, shared ambitions. The seminar will provide an inside view of the ways in which WTL is helping to bring about systemic transformation and the challenges this effort faces. It will assess how this stakeholder-driven approach fits into governance and policy structures, providing a real-world case study of a comprehensive place-based attempt to create a better future.

This webinar was moderated by IIEP Distinguished Visiting Scholar Sunil Sharma. IIEP Director Jay Shambaugh and Ann Florini of ASU-Thunderbird provided welcoming remarks. This event was co-sponsored by the Thunderbird School of Management, Arizona State University, and the Institute for International Economic Policy at GWU.

About the Speakers:

Jyoti Banerjee is co-founder of North Star Transition, and project director of the team that created the Integrated Reporting (six capitals) movement globally. He also chaired the Integrated Thinking and Strategy group, a collaboration of over fifty global organizations, including the World Bank, BASF and Novo Nordisk. He has been involved in impact investing for two decades and used to be an entrepreneur in the tech sector. At North Star Transition, he leads the Finance Transition Lab. Jyoti has a master’s degree in economics from the Delhi School of Economics, and an MBA from the Open Business School. He taught entrepreneurship as an MBA elective at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Jenny Scott is a Founder Partner at Apella, an advisory firm that helps organizations build their purpose, strategy and reputation. Prior to establishing Apella, Jenny was an Executive Director at the Bank of England, responsible for leading communications throughout the 2008 financial crisis and the Brexit referendum in 2016. She was also co-head of strategy. Before that, Jenny was Economics Correspondent at the BBC. She is a trustee of Pro Bono Economics. Jenny is a senior advisor at North Star Transition.

Victoria Topham is a chartered accountant who worked for over 20 years as a finance professional, training with PwC and holding commercial and corporate finance roles with leading media industry businesses. With the urgency for sustainable and systemic change to tackle planetary degeneration, she works with businesses and organizations to develop purpose-led business models. Victoria leads the Wales Transition Lab and is also vice chair of the Buckinghamshire Food Partnership. Victoria has a geology degree from the University of Durham, a Business Sustainability Management qualification from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Sustainability Leadership and a Professional Coaching Certificate from the Henley Business School. She is a qualified member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

About the Moderator:

Sunil Sharma is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Institute for International Economic Policy, Elliott School of International Affairs, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, and a Senior Associate at the Council on Economic Policies, Zurich, Switzerland. He was Assistant Director in the IMF’s Research Department from 2015-2018, and the Director of the IMF- Singapore Regional Training Institute (STI) in Singapore from 2006-2015. Before moving to Singapore in 2006, he was Chief of the IMF Institute’s Asian Division in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the IMF in 1992, Sunil was on the Economics faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Cornell University, a M.A. from the Delhi School of Economics, and a B.A. (Honors) from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University. His current interests include rethinking capitalism and democracy, systemic hazards, complex systems, the international financial architecture, and the institutional structure and design of financial regulation.

Welcome Remarks:

Jay Shambaugh is Professor of Economics and  International Affairs, and Director of the Institute for International Economic Policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. His area of research is macroeconomics and international economics. He has had two stints in public service. He served as a Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisors from 2015-2017. Earlier, he served on the staff of the CEA as a Senior Economist for International Economics and then as the Chief Economist. He also spent 3 years as the Director of the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Jay is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the NBER and Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at Brookings. Prior to joining the faculty at George Washington, Jay taught at Georgetown and Dartmouth and was a visiting scholar at the IMF. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. from the Fletcher School at Tufts, and a B.A. from Yale University.

Ann Florini is Clinical Professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University, where she directs programs at the Washington, D.C. campus. She was previously Professor of Public Policy at Singapore Management University founding director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the National University of Singapore; and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. She has spearheaded numerous international initiatives on global governance, energy and climate policy, and cross-sector collaborations including government, civil society, and the private sector. Her many books and articles have addressed governance in China, transparency in governance, transnational civil society networks, and the role of the private sector in public affairs. Dr. Florini received her Ph.D. in Political Science from UCLA and a Masters in Public Affairs from Princeton University.