Simplifying Transactions While Building Digital Trust: The Impact of Emerging Technologies on a Global Economy

A sought-after commentator, John Ferguson's engaging and confident delivery style helps to provide context to many global issues in an insightful and accessible way, supported by his 15 years in policy and economic analysis. John is responsible for providing leadership and oversight for The EIU’s macroeconomic analysis. He joined The EIU in 2010 and, most recently, he was the Global Forecasting Director. In that role, he was responsible for The EIU’s global economic and political analysis, as well as managing the publication of the monthly Global Outlook. Prior to this, he was a Senior Economist in The EIU’s Public Policy practice. This time involved research into many of the major factors impacting the global economy: climate change; geopolitics; FDI flows; artificial intelligence; and global employment patterns. John holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from Sussex University where he specialised in macroeconomics and trade, and an Honours degree in Psychology from the Australian National University.

Timothy J. Martin has served as Executive Vice President, Chief Global Solutions Officer since May 2019. In this role, Mr. Martin is responsible for managing revenue growth and profitability through the strategy, planning, innovation and commercialization of nearly all of TransUnion’s products and solutions globally. He previously held business management roles at TransUnion leading both a number of industry vertical-focused teams and a high growth horizontal solution called the Specialized Risk Group. Prior to joining TransUnion in September 2009, Mr. Martin was President and Chief Operating Officer of HSBC Auto Finance where he had direct profit & loss responsibility for all strategy, business development, sales, marketing, pricing, risk management, underwriting operations, customer service and collections. Prior to joining HSBC, he was a consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton (now PWC Strategy&) from 1998 to 2003, and senior marketing analyst with American Airlines from 1992 to 1996. Mr. Martin received his B.S. in Management from Purdue University and his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Business School.

A recognized digital leader in the UK, Leigh Smyth is the Strategic Advisor to the UN leading the Environment Programme, Global Finance. Leigh has held strategic leadership roles in the retail, public and financial sectors including working with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the UK Government Home Access Scheme, Lloyds Banking Group and most recently as a board member and strategic advisor to TechTalentCharter. As a firm believer in equality of opportunity Leigh leads initiatives to help organizations leverage their scale, tech and data for good.

Udai is a leader in McKinsey’s Payments and Consumer lending practice. He serves a range of financial services companies and fintechs on topics related to strategy, innovation, and operations.