Speakers

Mark Sedwill, Baron Sedwill of Sherborne GCMG FRGS, is a is cross-bench peer and a member of Parliament’s Joint Committee on national security. Lord Sedwill is Chair of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and a non-executive director of Rothschild & Co (R&Co) and of Lloyd’s of London. He is Chair of R&Co Geopolitical Advisory and of R&Co Saudi Arabia. He is Chair of the Atlantic Future Forum (AFF) and a member of Temasek’s EMEA advisory group.

Lord Sedwill is President of the Special Forces Club and of the Special Boat Service Association, a Vice-President of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charities (RNRMC), and an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Marines. He is President of the Civil Service Retirement Association, and a Trustee of St Andrews University and of the RNLI.

Lord Sedwill chaired the 2021 G7 Panel on Global Economic Resilience. He was Cabinet Secretary & Head of the Civil Service (2018-20), National Security Adviser (2017-20), Permanent Secretary at the Home Office (2013-17), and British Ambassador and NATO Representative in Afghanistan (2009-11). Before that he had a diplomatic and security career serving in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan. He was educated at St Andrews and Oxford Universities.

Lord Sedwill is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Institute of Directors, an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University and of St Edmund Hall, Oxford. He is an Honorary Doctor of Laws of St Andrews University, and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple. He is also the recipient of several other awards and honours for national and international public service.