Dr. John Llewellyn

John Llewellyn is former Global Chief Economist and Managing Director at Lehman Brothers, as well as Head of International Forecasting and Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General at OECD. Prior to that, he spent nearly ten years at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Cambridge. He is a compelling and authoritative speaker, equally at home presenting to large audiences as hosting smaller events. John is also a proficient Chairman.

Currently the founding partner of the independent economic consultancy, Llewellyn Consulting, John advises high-profile individuals and entities around the world, including asset managers, governments, C-suites, multinational corporates, and law firms.

John’s wealth of knowledge and experience runs as broad as it does deep, extending across the economics sphere into policy, markets, international cooperation, and beyond. A current strand of research is with scientists on implications of the digital revolution for the economy, society, and policy.

A seasoned and approachable speaker, John presents regularly to leading financial institutions and audiences across the business spectrum on the conjunctural, and the longer-term inexorable, forces at work and implications for markets, including from the new technologies, climate change, and demography. John’s insights are regularly used as part of the corporate strategy processes.
Former Head of Forecasting and then Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General at the OECD, and advisor to the UK Treasury he has four decades of policymaking experience.

John is one of the few economists who has lived through and held important roles during all the economic crises since the 1970s, including the 1970s energy shocks, the ERM debacle, the early 1980s recession, and US Black Monday. John uses such insights to cast light on a range of issues, including the current economic climate and the potential direction of the economy.

John was also Senior Economic Policy Advisor and Managing Director at Lehman Brothers during the lead up to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/09. With deep experience of international finance, as an eyewitness, he can address questions that intrigue audiences, such as: Was the impending crisis obvious at the time? What were the attitudes of people in the financial sector as well as the public? Did these change during the different periods of the crisis? How did perceptions change as the situation evolved?

John’s experience and judgement has often led to his pointing to developments well in advance of their happening. He began work on climate change in 2006, long before it had become fashionable; and this resulted in a major publication, The Business of Climate Change, in 2007. Similarly, his work on the oil price hikes of 1973/74 and 1978/79 led to his predicting the price collapse in 2015/16.
As a former scholar at both Oxford and Cambridge universities, John’s work academic credentials are strong. He has published two books, many major papers on topical economic matters, and has written scores newspaper articles.