Philippe Legrain

Philippe Legrain is an independent writer, commentator, consultant and public speaker with high-level policymaking experience. Phillipe describes himself as a 'thinker, communicator and doer'. He is the Founder of the Open Political Economy Network (OPEN), an international think tank that focuses on issues such as migration, diversity, trade and technology.

Through his work, writing and media appearances, Phillippe has been at the heart of many of the big debates of the past 20 years - about globalisation, international migration, and The Western Financial Crisis. Phillippe’s career has given him the ability to develop insider knowledge, intellectual authority, and independent perspective on both global and European political economy issues. He shares his esteemed as a Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics. He has also been the Principal Advisor to the President of the European Commission and Senior Fellow of The Lisbon Council.

Since being a Trade & Economics Correspondent at The Economist early on in his career, Phillippe has written for The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and many more leading publications. He also has written four books: “Open World: The Truth About Globalisation”, “Immigrants - Your Country Needs Them”, “Aftershock - Reshaping the World Economy After the Crisis” and "European Spring - Why Our Economics and Politics are in a Mess”.

An accomplished economic speaker, Phillippe has been a speaker at events all around the world. Phillippe has served as a consultant for a variety of clients, including the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank, The Swedish Governments Globalisation Council, UNDP and the Asian Development Bank. Alongside all of this work, Phillippe Legrain is also a commentator on BBC TV and Radio on globalisation, migration, and European issues. He is now available to speak at a wide range of events, sharing his esteemed knowledge of geopolitics and international relations.