Strategic agility and leadership in uncertain times

Dr Giacomo Carli

Giacomo Carli is Teaching Director of the Undergraduate Business Programme and Senior Lecturer in Strategy at The Open University Business School.

After visiting the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, he completed his PhD in Management in 2012 at the University of Bologna in Italy, where he was also appointed as a Postdoc. Giacomo also taught at Bocconi University. Giacomo has a work experience as a management consultant in strategic and organisational change projects in large companies and he is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Giacomo's research interests are in higher education institutions’ strategy and in innovative teaching.

Professor Peter Rodgers

Professor Peter Rodgers is a Professor of Strategy and International Management and MBA Director within Southampton Business School, University of Southampton.

Professor Rodgers gained a BA (Hons) degree in Social and Political Sciences from Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge and an MA and PhD from the Centre for Russian and East European Studies, University of Birmingham. He previously worked at the Aston Business School, Sheffield University Management School and the University of Leicester’s School of Business where he was the Director of the MBA Programme and Associate Dean for Marketing, Recruitment and Global Engagement.

Professor Rodgers research interests focus on informality within state-business relations, non-market strategies and entrepreneurship and he has published in leading journals such as Work, Employment and Society, Management Learning, Management International Review, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Public Management Review, Human Resource Management Review, Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Industrial Relations Journal and Global Networks.

He is a fluent Russian speaker and has worked on and managed several large international collaborative research projects across the former Soviet Union and the Western Balkans, involving universities and a variety of different stakeholders. He continues to provide expert briefing advice to the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office on matters relating to the business environment in Ukraine.

Dame Stella Manzie DBE

Dame Stella Manzie DBE has served as Chief Executive of four UK local authorities, in both urban and rural settings and as a Director General in the UK Civil Service (Scottish Government), dealing with corporate issues, justice and communities. She has also worked with local authorities with specific challenges and difficulties. She has spent time as a consultant working in Kenya, Mauritius, the Middle East and Morocco, and has been a Non–Executive Director of HM Treasury. Stella has a track record of effective change management and performance improvement to achieve strong governance and customer focused service delivery. She has a particular interest in management and workforce issues. Stella is a Visiting Fellow of The Open University, the Chair of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire and a Trustee of the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

Phil Atherton

Phil Atherton is the Sales Director for Enesco Ltd, a gift business that has sales of $200M across the world and is present in every continent. Phil is responsible for sales across the EMEA region, with brands that span Disney, Willow Tree, Snoopy etc. 

Phil’s career as a business leader spans over 30 years. Before joining the group, Phil was previously the Group Sales and Marketing Director at Portmeirion Group PLC, responsible for global sales and marketing excluding the US.