Business Associates

Giorgio Baldassarri Hőger von Hőgersthal is a managing director and Global Head of Risk Analytics, within Risk & Valuations Services (S&P Global). He leads an elite team of PhDs, FRMs, CFAs, who employ machine learning, advanced statistical and genAI models to estimate, monitor and predict credit, operational and climate risks. Giorgio defines the analytical innovation and development roadmap, produces regular thought leadership pieces, and regularly speaks at international conferences, presenting his team’s research and helping showcasing use and applications of risk models.

He holds a PhD in quantum mechanics and semiconductor physics, from University “La Sapienza” of Rome, and is the holder of a US patent on a novel system for estimating distance-to-default credit risk of public companies.

Prior to joining S↦P Global in 2011, Giorgio worked at Barclays (2008-2011), in Group Risk, and as a post-doc lecturer in multiple scientific centres of excellence (Dortmund, Southampton, Rome), studying Bose-Einstein condensation phenomena in bulk semiconductors and microcavities by means of laser spectroscopy.

Dr. Chabrak is a globally recognized expert in sustainable development, climate action, and entrepreneurship. With over two decades of transformative leadership spanning Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, she brings scholarly rigor and practical expertise to addressing global challenges. As Founder and CEO of Vision Nest, she transforms organizational environmental impact through innovative sustainability strategies with deep expertise in carbon markets. As a member of the Tunisian Delegation at COP28 and COP29, she contributed to international climate negotiations and led capacity-building programs on NDCs and Article 6. As co-founder of AirImpact, she led the Great Green Action at COP28, developing frameworks to harmonize forest frontline communities' livelihoods with environmental preservation.

Previously, as CEO of UAE University Science and Innovation Park, she established strategic partnerships with institutions like MIT, guiding the creation of over 40 startups with 70% founded by Emirati women. As Chairperson of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) UAE, she contributed to transforming the nation's entrepreneurship ecosystem through evidence-based policymaking. At Expo 2020, she pioneered “The University of the Future” that “graduates job creators instead of job seekers.” She architected the Arab world's first Design Thinking School, establishing a comprehensive framework for design education excellence through strategic partnerships. Her academic contributions include research in critical accounting and governance promoting social justice and inclusive growth. She serves on editorial boards of prestigious journals and has published in top-tier journals.

Dr. Chabrak holds a PhD from the University of Paris Dauphine and is member of the BMW Foundation and the Climate Reality Project.

Duncan Chapple is co-director of the Analyst Observatory at the University of Edinburgh Business School. The Analyst Observatory, an initiative of the ESRC-funded Second Pitch Research Project, is dedicated to supporting and promoting comprehensive analysis of how technology start-ups achieve competitive advantage through analyst endorsements.

A former member of the Business School's teaching faculty, Duncan maintains a strong connection as a Business School Associate within the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group. Duncan is also a member of the university's Institute for the Study of Science, Technology and Innovation. Duncan is an active alumnus, having earned a Master of Science by Research (MScR) in Innovation from the University of Edinburgh Business School and is part of the university’s General Council. His MScR research explored the increasingly algorithmic production of industry analysis within the high technology sector.

Duncan's scholarly work has been recognised with the Business School's Award for Exemplary Paper for his co-authored publication in Organisation Studies. His research pipeline focuses on hype, paradox and innovation. In addition to his work published in Organisation Studies, Duncan is a co-author of research featured in the Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, which examines the role of industry analysts in spreading word-of-mouth in B2B contexts. Notably, he is a co-author of the paper "The valorising pitch: How digital start‐ups leverage intermediary coverage", published in the Journal of Management Studies in 2023. He has contributed to discussions at several academic conferences and is the co-author of three books on business relationship management.

As co-director of the Analyst Observatory, he actively engages in outreach to firms with 'Hot Vendor' status and similar recognitions and co-organises the Observatory’s annual Analyst Relations Forum. His ongoing efforts at the Observatory continue to yield valuable insights into the dynamics of the technology industry and the critical role of analyst relations.

Andrew was appointed to TSB’s Executive Committee in October 2022 as Strategy Director, responsible for delivery of TSB’s growth strategy and commercial performance, having held the role of Strategy Director and Chief of Staff since March 2022.

He joined TSB in 2020 as Commercial Director and oversaw TSB’s commercial income drivers across Customer Banking including the development of the Money Confidence framework for the branch network.

Andrew has over 25 years’ experience in financial services, leading large-scale strategic and transformational projects that improve customer service and business performance. He has held a number of senior executive roles in both banking and insurance at Lloyds Banking Group spanning finance, commercial and strategy. He started his career at Shell before becoming a strategy consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers and McKinsey.

Andrew is a board member of Historic Environment Scotland.

Educated at Glasgow and Harvard, David embarked on an academic career in Statistics but then changed direction and then moved into retail banking; and spent 17 years working in credit risk management for two major Scottish banks.

Since 2003, he has operated as a freelance consultant, interim manager and trainer, and has served hundreds of clients from 30+ countries across five continents.

He is also the author/joint author of 6 books and more than 30 published articles.

His main areas of operation are in credit risk management, dealing with:

• how processes are managed – management controls, management information, application processes, collections processes, debt sale, marketing and design feedback
• how models are managed – coding, testing, validation, implementation, credit strategy, model accuracy, model stability, model appropriateness, model modification, business projections, resource projections, management of models
• how the data are managed – data quality, data quantity

In areas of development, he developed bespoke training courses but also has a range of training courses “off the shelf”, which are tried-and-tested through many presentations. These range from a half-day course for Board members on bank retail credit risk to a five-week programme covering a wide range of credit aspects for the leaders of credit businesses within a banking organisation.

Alan Forrest has been actively employed in in UK Financial services for over 20 years, including 15 years leading the development and validation of risk models in Virgin Money UK, Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland. His experience covers most kinds of models in banking, from Credit Risk IRB and IFRS9 to Financial Calculators, from Stress Testing to Pricing, from Marketing Campaign Selection to Fraud Management. During this time, he developed and promoted creative methods in regulatory bank modelling, such as Low Default Portfolios, Model Risk Quantification and Model Portfolio Management.

Alan left full-time employment early in 2024, and continues to be an active member of the Model Risk Profession as a Business Associate of the Credit Research Centre at the University of Edinburgh Business School. He is a Board member of the Model Risk Managers International Association (MRMIA), promoting education, technique and understanding of Model Risk as a principal risk in banking and wider financial and non-financial contexts.

Before moving into Financial Services in 2002, Alan was a professional pure mathematician with over 10 years lecturing, research and post-doctoral experience in UK, France, Norway and US, retraining as a Masters in Applied Statistics in 2001.

Woon Sau, CFA, is Professor of Finance at Southampton Business School (SBS), where he is Director of the Centre of Empirical Research in Finance and Banking (CERFIB) and Interim Programme Lead for BSc Finance and Financial Technology. Prior to joining Southampton, he was Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and Lecturer in Finance at Cardiff University.

He has published research in various journals, including Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of International Business Studies, Production Operations and Management, Journal of Financial Intermediation, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Financial Markets, etc. His work has been featured by the Harvard Business Review, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Regulation, Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog, Reuters, Bloomberg, Institutional Investor, etc.

He has presented in major conferences, including those by the American Economic Association (AEA), European Finance Association (EFA), Financial Management Association (FMA), etc. He has served as reviewer for various journals, including Management Science, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Corporate Finance, Journal of Banking and Finance, etc., and funding bodies. In 2024-25, he edited a special issue in the British Accounting Review on "the Role of Supply Chain in Accounting and Finance Research."

Woon Sau teaches UG and MSc courses in financial markets, corporate finance and econometrics. He was nominated for Best Supervisor Award by students. One of his courses was awarded Runner-Up Prize - the Innovation in Learning and Teaching Award. He regularly delivers guest lectures to institutions abroad.

Chris Mullin is a writer, journalist and former politician. He was the MP for Sunderland South from 1987 to 2010 and a minister in three departments – Environment, International Development and the Foreign Office. He also chaired the Home Affairs select committee for four years. He is the author of four novels, the best-known novel, ‘A Very British Coup’, was made into an award- winning television series. He has also published four volumes of widely acclaimed diaries. His most-recent diaries, ‘Didn’t You Used to be Chris Mullin?’ cover the years 2010-2022. His other books include Error of Judgement, The Truth About the Birmingham Bombings, an updated edition of which was published in 2024.