Managing Director, Business Support and Business Finance, The Growth Company, Manchester

She leads the delivery of the NW Made Smarter Adoption Programme to improve the competitiveness and productivity of North West manufacturers. She is committed to driving the adoption of industrial digital technology by facilitating access to skills, funding, and expertise. Donna has over 20 years’ experience of working in business support, workforce development, access to finance and innovation services across the North West, delivering services to meet the strategic priorities of those areas, and ultimately drive economic growth.

Research Fellow, Enterprise Research Centre, University of Warwick, and The Productivity Institute

Halima Jibril is a Research Fellow at the Enterprise Research Centre, University of Warwick, and The Productivity Institute. Her research examines the links between innovation and performance in small businesses, including the roles of innovation networks, exporting, leadership styles and supply chain collaborations. Halima also has expertise in conducting evaluations of policy support measures, working with institutions such as Cavendish Enterprise and Innovation Growth Lab, Nesta. Jibril’s research is strongly quantitative and reflects her diverse econometrics background.

At The Productivity Institute, Halima’s research has examined the potential productivity effects of the UK Government’s Covid-19 business support measures. She is currently working on understanding the temporal links between exporting, innovation and firm performance.

Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for regional engagement, Warwick University and Professor of International Business, Warwick Business School

Professor Nigel Driffield is Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor for regional engagement at Warwick University and Professor of International Business at Warwick Business School, having held a similar post at Aston Business School for 10 years which included a spell as the dean of the business school. He has a PhD from Reading University and has published some 80 academic papers across a range of disciplines including international business, regional science, finance, and economics. Nigel leads the Midlands Regional Productivity Forum and is research theme lead for The Productivity Institute’s organisational capital theme.

Director of Research and Economics, McKinsey

Tera Allas is Director of Research and Economics in McKinsey’s United Kingdom and Ireland office, working closely with the McKinsey Global Institute. She leads McKinsey’s research on the macroeconomic outlook, growth, and productivity, bringing together deep expertise and more than three decades of experience in strategy, corporate finance, economics, and public policy.

Allas is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. From 2004 to 2014, Allas worked as chief economist in the UK’s energy, transport, and business departments and as deputy head of the UK Government Economic Service. In 2018, Allas was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to economic policy.

Professor of Productivity Studies at the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) at the University of Manchester

Bart van Ark is a Professor of Productivity Studies at the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) at the University of Manchester. He is also Managing Director and Principal Investigator of The Productivity Institute, a UK-wide organisation which aims to lay the foundations for an era of sustained and inclusive productivity growth by bringing together academic research, policy studies and business engagement.

Van Ark is an internationally acclaimed economist in the field of international comparative productivity measurement and analysis, innovation and technology, and digital transformation, and his research has cut across the areas of economic growth, development economics, economic history and international economics and business. From 2008 to 2020, van Ark was Chief Economist and Head of the Economy, Strategy and Finance Centre at The Conference Board, a global business research think tank headquartered in New York, where he oversaw the production of widely watched economic indicators and growth forecasts around the globe.