Speaker Biographies

Jürgen Maier - Chief Executive, Siemens UK

Jürgen Maier was appointed Chief Executive of Siemens UK on 1 July 2014. He has been a member of the Siemens UK Executive Board since 2008 and held senior roles within Siemens in the UK and Germany. He is a passionate advocate of the UK rebalancing its economy and supports many UK-wide initiatives championing manufacturing, improved infrastructure and engineering skills. Jürgen was appointed as a non-executive board member of the UK Government Department of Business Innovation and Skills in 2014, is Chairman of the North West Business Leadership team and a board member of Greater Manchester LEP.

Miranda Green – Deputy Opinion Editor at the

Miranda Green is a British journalist and columnist at the Financial Times. Employed first on the home news desk, she was then deputy world news editor, then the paper's education correspondent, and political correspondent. Before becoming Depuity Opinion Editor. Green joined the BBC for a short time to work on On The Record with John Humphrys. Miranda began her career in the Liberal Democrats press team, becoming former Press Secretary to then Liberal Democrats’ leader .

Guy De Selliers – President & Co-founder of HCF International Advisers

Guy de Selliers is President and Co-Founder of HCF International Advisers. Guy has more than 40 years’ experience in banking and investment banking, with much of his work focusing on the natural resources and heavy industry sectors including Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and Africa. He has held senior executive positions in both multilateral organisations and private sector firms. He is currently on the Boards of Ageas S.A., AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V., Ivanhoe Mines Limited and other privately held companies.

Daisy McAndrew – Broadcaster & Former ITN Economics Editor

Daisy is an English journalist and former ITN Economics Editor. In 2005, McAndrew joined ITN as Chief Political Correspondent for ITV News, and in 2011 she began working under the new title of special correspondent. McAndrew came to national prominence as a BBC News presenter co-hosting the weekday lunchtime with and presenting Yesterday in Parliament on BBC Breakfast. At 19, Daisy worked as a researcher in the House of Commons before becoming the press secretary to .

Sir MP – Home affairs Spokesperson

Ed is the MP for Kingston and Surbiton and the Liberal Democrats’ . Ed served in the Coalition as Secretary of State for Energy and from 2012 to 2015. Previously he was the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. Ed led the policy to secure a massive increase in renewable electricity in the UK, which doubled under the Coalition and put the UK on track to beat the 30% target by 2020. He has previously worked as a consultant and economic researcher.

Jo Swinson MP – Deputy Leader & Foreign Affairs Spokesperson

Jo is the Liberal Democrat MP for and Lib Dem Deputy Leader and Shadow Foreign Secretary. She was a Business Minister and Minister for Women and Equalities in the Coalition Government (2012-2015). As a Minister, Jo introduced shared , extended flexible working rights, clamped down on unscrupulous payday lenders, increased penalties on employers failing to pay workers the minimum wage, improved corporate reporting and won government support to bring in gender pay gap reporting. A former manager, in 2015, Jo founded her own consulting business advising organisations on workplace diversity.