Tim Willasey-Wilsey Keynote Speaker

Tim Willasey-Wilsey is a former senior British diplomat. He has spent the last decade advising the financial services industry on geopolitical and strategic risk.

Tim draws upon his experiences on four continents; from the Cold War and Southern Africa in the 1980s, the Middle East and Central America in the 1990s through to the so-called War on Terror and the rise of China since 2000. He uses these diverse experiences in talking to large international companies about the threats they face today, including cyber attacks and other forms of hybrid warfare.

Tim is also Visiting Professor of War Studies at King’s College London and a twice-elected member of the Chatham House Council. Tim lectures to the Qatar Foreign Ministry, Oman Defence Ministry, Brunei Civil Service, Norwegian Defence College, Indiana University, and to think tanks in Pakistan and Morocco. He also writes for websites in Washington DC (Cipher Brief), Mumbai (Gateway House) and London (RUSI), and for the Daily Telegraph.

Prior to his 27 years as a diplomat Tim spent a gap-year in Ethiopia before graduating from St Andrews University with a First in Modern History. He then spent five years in the packaging industry with Metal Box where he sold machinery throughout Europe and was Commercial Manager of an engineering factory in Swindon.

In 2007 Tim was awarded the CMG in the Queen’s New Year honours.

Speaking topics include: 

• Coping with geopolitical and strategic risk (including the threat from cyber weapons)
• How to manage reputational risk
• Business lessons from the Cold War to the Global War on Terror
• Risk in the Middle East and Asia