Meet the leadership team

John Walker is Chairman of Oxford Economics, which he founded in 1981.

From 1973 to 1977, John worked in the UK Treasury, where he became an economic adviser in the short-term forecasting division. He then worked for the consultancy arm of The Economist Newspaper, before becoming a Special Adviser to the EEC Commission in Brussels in 1980, where he was co-ordinator of forecasts for all the EEC countries and related forecasts for the US and Japan.

John returned to the UK in 1983 to work full-time for Oxford Economic Forecasting. He has headed Oxford’s move into international forecasting, developing strong links with economists around the world and co-ordinating the development of the PC versions of the Oxford models that are now widely used in the UK and the rest of the world. As well as being a much-respected commentator on global economic prospects, John leads major consultancy projects with government departments and multinational companies from Europe and the United States on issues ranging from international capital flows to developments in the Middle East economies.

Adrian Cooper is responsible for coordinating and managing Oxford Economics’ global economic analysis, forecasting and consultancy activities, and overseeing its global team of over 450 professionals including 300 economists and analysts. He has led Oxford Economics’ work on a wide array of consultancy projects, ranging from policy advice to government departments in Europe, the US, Africa, and Asia to detailed analysis of the economic impact of particular industries and investment proposals.

Adrian spent the first seven years of his career with HM Treasury, England. During this time, he worked on the analysis of tax and other economic policy changes as part of the preparations for the UK Budget. He was also the coordinator of the government’s macroeconomic forecast for two years.

Prior to joining Oxford Economics in 1994, Adrian was UK economist for James Capel & Company, responsible for analysing and forecasting the UK economy for institutional investors, as well as briefing Capel’s own traders. Adrian was educated at the University of Bristol, England, where he gained a first-class degree in Economics; and at the London School of Economics and Political Science, England, where he achieved a distinction in the MSc in Economics and won the Ely Devons prize for outstanding performance in the degree examinations.

Innes McFee is the Chief Global Economist of Oxford Economics, based in London. Innes oversees the Macro, Cities & Industry teams globally, as well as the subscriptions Business Development team. He sits on the Board of Alpine Macro.  Innes joined Oxford Economics in 2017 after 6 years at Lloyds Banking Group as a Senior Economist, working in Macroeconomic Consulting and the Macro & Investor Services teams. He has been a regular writer and presenter for the Global Macro Service and Real Estate Economics Service.

Prior to joining Lloyds Innes was an Economic Advisor at HM Treasury. Innes has a first-class undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Durham and an MSc in Economics from Warwick University.

Neil is the Managing Director of the Macro Modelling and Scenarios team at Oxford Economics. He has over 10 years’ experience and oversees the production and development of the Global Economic model and Global Scenario Service.

He also leads projects for large corporate and financials clients to develop business planning scenarios covering demographic, technological, geopolitical, policy and climate and transition developments . His team also supports the delivery of a large number regulatory stress scenarios for financial institutions including the PRA, MAS, and HKMA. He also works with clients to develop bespoke organization specific modeling enhancements to aid with financial planning and decision making.

Some of his recent research focus has been on the economic impact of temperature volatility on economic growth.  This research built on the work of Burke et al 2015 to focus on the role of the temperature anomaly instead of levels leading to significantly more economically consequential results that previously estimated.

Debra D’Agostino founded Oxford Economics’ Thought Leadership division in 2011 and serves as its managing director. She oversees a global team of editors, researchers and analysts who conduct ground-breaking research programs in partnership with the world’s most forward-looking organizations, on topics ranging from business transformation, emerging technology, diversity and inclusion, talent and leadership to risk management and corporate finance. Debra also leads Oxford Economics’ global consulting business development team, serves as co-managing director for the firm’s operations in the Americas, and is a member of Oxford Economics’ global Senior Management Team.

Debra joined the firm from the Economist Intelligence Unit, the research arm of the Economist Group, where she led the company’s business research department for the Americas. Prior to the EIU, she served as an editor and writer at CIO Insight, the award-winning business and technology strategy journal she helped launch at Ziff Davis Media in 2001. She holds a bachelor of science in journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Courtney is the Senior Vice President for Business Development, and since 2018 has been a member of Oxford Economics’ Senior Management Committee and the business development division’s Global Leadership Team. She is also the business development lead for the company’s IT Liaison group, which identifies and prioritises improvement opportunities and serves as a bridge linking the business lines and IT.

Courtney is responsible for managing the strategic growth and development plans for Oxford Economics in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. She splits her time between the UK and UAE, overseeing teams in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Milan and Dubai. She joined the business in 2014, and has since worked in a variety of leadership roles across the UK/Ireland, Middle East, Africa and Greater China.  Courtney has more than 15 years’ experience working in business development, and holds a Master’s degree in International Development from Utrecht University (NL) and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations & Political Science from Ohio University (USA).

Scott Livermore is the Chief Economist of Oxford Economics Middle East and based in Oxford’s Dubai office. He is also Managing Director of Consultancy in the Middle East and Asia, as well as a member of Oxford Economics’ Senior Management Team. Scott leads many of the major projects in the GCC and Asia which have recently included capacity building, macroeconomic modelling, and policy impact assessment engagements for government institutions in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman, and IFRS 9 and Stress Testing engagements in Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong.

After completing a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University, and an MSc in Economics at University College London, Scott joined Oxford Economic Forecasting in 1997. During his initial five years at OEF, he worked as a country analyst for a number of European countries and participated in numerous consultancy projects for a variety of international organisations, governments and multinational companies using both Oxford Economics’ Global Economic Model and bespoke economic models.

Scott rejoined Oxford Economics in 2005 as a senior economist after spending two years at the Ministry of Finance in the Slovak Republic assisting with the government’s medium-term macroeconomic framework and developing the analytical capacity of the ministry to prepare such forecasts. He has also held the positions of Managing Director of Macro and Industry Services, Managing Director of Macro Consulting, and COO of Oxford Economics USA.

Adam Sacks is the founder and President of Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company dedicated to understanding the relationship between travel and the economy.

For more than two decades, Adam has worked with destinations, industry associations, and companies around the world in the areas of opportunity and risk assessments, policy analysis, and economic impact.

He is an authority on measuring the economic impact of visitor activity and has analyzed the impacts of cruising, gaming, timeshare, hotels, new attractions and destination marketing. Adam’s work has provided the foundation for billions of dollars in capital investment decisions by hotel companies, developers, and investors. Destination marketing organizations around the world rely on Tourism Economics data and scenario models to inform global marketing investment allocations.

Adam also supports trade associations in the aviation, hotel, and broader travel arena with forecasts widely considered to be an industry standard. Adam’s work has influenced critical government policies in the areas of travel facilitation, taxation, and tourism promotion initiatives. Adam regularly presents to corporate strategic planning teams on the threats and opportunities facing their businesses and is a member of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Travel & Tourism Advisory Board.

David is the Managing Director at BIS Oxford Economics and heads the office for Australia and New Zealand. In August 2013 he moved to Sydney to establish the firm and is continuing to grow the business in this region as well as leading key projects within Australia.

Before moving to Australia David worked as part of Oxford Economics’ business development team in London. Prior to joining Oxford Economics he worked for KPMG as a management consultant, specialising in financial risk management including stress testing and scenario analysis. During this time he was also seconded to the main Financial Services regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). He completed his degree in Economics at Nottingham University and also studied the chartered institute for securities investment diploma.

Charles Burton joined Oxford Economics in April 2008 as the Director of Business Development and is currently the company’s Executive Director. He is also a fellow and council member of the Society of Business Economists and non-executive Chairman of the Sofia Property Fund, an AIM-listed real estate fund, as well as a member of the Scottish Government’s Economic Consultants Advisory Group.

Charles has had a long career in business economics. He was an economist for Beecham Pharmaceuticals, before joining the Confederation of British Industry in 1975. At the CBI, he ran the company’s business surveys and economic forecasting teams. As Deputy Director of Economics, he was later responsible for the CBI’s economic policy representations. Between 1985 and 1988, he was in charge of the economic forecasting and consultancy business of Wharton Econometrics (now part of IHS Global Insight) in the UK and Europe. In 1988, he was CEO and one of the founding directors of Business Strategies Ltd, a leading independent forecasting and consulting operation. After its acquisition by Experian in 2002, he was the global managing director for the company’s Business Strategies division.

George is responsible for managing and co-ordinating Oxford’s Global Real Estate division including all sales, product development and business strategy. George also heads up Oxford’s Specialist Markets Group, focusing on global growth across Oxford’s Tourism, BIS and NKC economic business groups.

George is a member of the senior management committee and has spent 9 years with Oxford, after joining in 2012 to set up its real estate division. His main responsibilities include growing Oxford Economics’ presence within the real estate sector throughout EMEA, Asia and the Americas.

Prior to joining Oxford Economics, George held roles with Real Capital Analytics (RCA) as Director of Business Development EMEA, Manager at CoStar UK and as an Associate for Savills Plc.
George is a member of the Society of Property Researchers (SPR), US Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Research Affinity Group, The Investment Property Forum (IPF), Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Old Harrovian Property Club (OHPC).

George studied at Zurich International Business School, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Northumbria University (UK).

Managing Director, APAC Business Development

Pete Collings leads Oxford Economics’ Economic Footprint and Sustainability Consulting teams. During his time at Oxford Economics, Pete has managed and conducted numerous large consulting projects including major global economic impact studies for the beer and tourism sectors, numerous footprint assessments encompassing Europe (for the European Space Agency, Rolls-Royce, Boeing and Huawei), as well as a large number of studies for major corporates and government elsewhere in the world.

Prior to joining Oxford Economics in 2009, Pete worked in the Fiscal Policy Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Zanzibar, on the ODI Fellowship Scheme. He has degrees from the University of York and the University of London.

Noelani King Conradie is the managing director for Oxford Economics Africa. Towards the end of 2002, Noelani decided to launch an independent economic service and founded NKC Independent Economists. The business has since grown into a team of over 30 people and in 2015 Noelani sold a majority stake in NKC to Oxford Economics. The company name was then rebranded as NKC African Economics. In September 2021, NKC African Economics decided to fully align its brand with its majority shareholder and became known as Oxford Economics Africa.

Noelani obtained her BCom (Honours) degree from the University of Pretoria, receiving distinctions for both her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. Her career started in 1995 at RMB Asset Management, before she became a financial economist at Absa Corporate Bank’s treasury department. After a period in the stock-brokering arena at SG Frankel Pollak Securities, she relocated to Cape Town to start an economics department at PSG Investment Bank in 1999.

Kristian leads Oxford Economics Australia’s Consulting team, working with public and private sector leaders to help them prepare for the future by applying relevant economic theory and forecasts to inform effective policy and business strategy development.

Jeremy Leonard is responsible for overseeing the work of the industry forecasting team and managing the operation and output of Oxford Economics’ Global Industry Model as well as related consultancy work.

Jeremy’s knowledge and past experience span a broad range, including competitiveness and offshoring/reshoring, commodity price modelling, and applied economic research on sectors ranging from biotech to heavy manufacturing to telecoms. In addition to numerous recurring bespoke sales and output forecasts for industries as diverse as machine tools and consumer packaging, recent consulting assignments have included the drivers of competitiveness in the chemical sector, forward-looking analyses of high-growth sectors across a range of emerging economies, and the ways in which digital technologies are transforming economic activity across manufacturing and service sectors.

Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Jeremy ran his own consulting firm based in Montreal, Canada providing a variety of economic analysis and forecasting services related to commodity prices, competitiveness, and the Canadian and US economic outlooks for the Washington, DC-based Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation, as well as serving as economic research director for the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy.

Born and raised in Washington, DC, Jeremy was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and McGill University, where he received his MA in Economics summa cum laude. He also speaks fluent French.

Sam Moore is Managing Director, Economic Consultancy in charge of economic impact and cities services at Oxford Economics. He manages Oxford Economics’ London office and is responsible for coordinating and managing many of Oxford Economics’ major consultancy projects.

Sam manages projects across all sectors of the economy and has lead Oxford’s recent work for Airbus, AT&T, BAE Systems, CBI, Deloitte, Etihad Airways, GE, JLL, Pinewood Studios, Rolls-Royce, SAP, UK Space Agency, UPS, and the World Wide Web Foundation.

Prior to joining Oxford Economics Sam spent the previous eight years with Experian, where he managed a team of economists responsible for economic modelling. Prior to joining Experian in 1998, Sam worked in the macroeconomics division at the Office for National Statistics. He graduated from Warwick University, from which he also has an MSc in Economics, gaining a distinction for his dissertation.

Ben is the CIO and Director of IT at Oxford Economics and responsible for global programmes of IT development and operations.

Ben joined Oxford Economics with over 25 years’ experience in the technology industry. He started his career as a Software Engineer having specialied in Data Science during his post-graduate studies in Medical Physics with IT at Aberdeen University. Before joining Oxford Economics, Ben’s career was focused in the rapidly evolving energy sector, and he held senior leadership roles with major technology consultancies and data analytics firms. Ben has considerable experience working across the IT spectrum on change and innovation programmes.

Peter Suomi is the Senior Vice President and head of business for the company in the Americas, including the United States, Canada and Latin America. He also serves as the Co-Managing Director for the firm’s operations in the Americas and is a member of Oxford Economics global Senior Management Team.

Prior to his role in the Americas, Peter was based in Singapore where he was the head of the firm’s business in Asia-Pacific, including operations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan & Australia. He also led the firm’s expansion on the West Coast US, setting up operations in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Before joining Oxford, Peter held a number of management positions in both the US and globally. He worked at the Economist Intelligence Unit for seven years, in New York, Australia, Singapore, and India, and was instrumental in the opening of the offices in Sydney and Delhi.

Peter holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in economics and political science from the University of Michigan.

Henry Worthington is a Director for Economic Consulting in Oxford Economics’ consultancy division managing a team of economists in London across a diverse range of projects featuring economic impact modelling, macroeconomic modelling and forecasting and scenario analysis.

He joined Oxford Economics in 2008, originally as part of the global macroeconomics team. As part of the macro team Henry assumed forecasting responsibility for a number of countries including Russia, Poland and Hungary. In 2010, Henry moved to the consultancy team. He has since led and managed a wide range of projects, notably an evaluation of the economic benefits of unconventional oil and gas extraction in Tunisia, research into the economic impact of hotel investments on behalf of the IFC, building a macroeconomic model for forecasting and scenario analysis in Abu Dhabi and developing a macroeconomic model to assess the implications of the introduction of VAT in the Bahamas.

Henry was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he gained a first-class degree in Economics, becoming the William Stone Scholar of Economics, and an MPhil in Modern Society and Global Transformations.

Chen Zhao is the Chief Global Strategist of Alpine Macro. From 2015 to 2016, he was Co-Director of Macro Research at Brandywine Global Investment Management. Prior to Brandywine Global, Chen spent 23 years at BCA Research as Partner, Managing Editor and Chief Global Strategist, Chen developed and wrote BCA’s China and Emerging Markets publications in the 1990s. Chen became the firm’s Chief Global Strategist in the 2000s and was the author of BCA’s flagship publication, Global Investment Strategy from 2005 to 2015. He holds an MA in economics from the Central University of Finance and Economics, was a visiting scholar at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and pursued post graduate studies with a PhD candidacy at McGill University.