Advisory Council - Economic Growth and Prosperity

Dan Micklethwaite was appointed as Director of Strategy and Policy at BEIS in November 2020. He is a member of the department’s Executive Committee, and oversees the department’s central strategy and policy functions, as well as ministerial private offices. He reports to the BEIS Permanent Secretary, Sarah Munby. 

Dan was previously the Director of Aviation at DfT (and the UK Director General of Civil Aviation) from summer 2016, with overall responsibility for UK policy on aviation. He was also elected as Vice President of the European Civil Aviation Conference in 2019 (the  European arm of the UN aviation agency). 

Ravi Chand CBE is the Director of Places for Growth and Beyond at the Cabinet Office. Before the Cabinet Office, Ravi was the chief people officer at the Department for International Development (DFID), holding responsibility for people, operations, IT and systems, estates and change. 

He was previously the HR director at HM Revenue and Customs with responsibility for workforce management of its 69,000 staff. He led the work on reforming the workforce to deliver the department’s blueprint ambitions for the future. Passionate about diversity, Ravi has previously worked as the director responsible for capability, talent and diversity at the Home Office. 

Sinead O’Sullivan joined the Higher Education and Further Education Group in February 2018. She is responsible for coordinating the Department’s skills contribution to economic recovery, particularly regarding bootcamps and L3 entitlement (SRO for National Skills Fund).

Previously, Sinead has been a Director of the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), working with schools and higher education providers to recruit people to train as teachers, and to develop stronger CPD and leadership programmes for the schools workforce. In previous roles, she has worked closely with Parliament on legislation and was Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State. 

Ben joined Tesco in August 2017 as Group Government Relations Director. He is responsible for Tesco’s political engagement strategy and policy areas such as Brexit and business rates. A member of two Leadership Teams (Legal and Communications), Ben works across the business on risk, regulatory and reputational issues. 

Prior to Tesco, Ben was a Director at Tulchan Communications. He founded and led the firm’s public affairs capability across FTSE 100 and 250 clients, including: financial services, retail and oil and gas. Before Tulchan, Ben was the Director of Government Affairs and Deputy Executive Director (Communications) at the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) between 2009 – 2014. 

Misa is the Head of Research at the Bank of England. She has joined the Bank in 2002 after completing a D.Phil in Economics at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. She has held a number of positions across Monetary Analysis, Financial Stability, and Prudential Policy Areas of the Bank.

Misa has previously published articles on international policy spillovers, bonus regulations, and sovereign debt finance in the Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Journal of Financial Intermediation, and Economic Journal, amongst others. Misa's current research interests include prudential policies and the impact of climate change on the financial system. 

Yael is Chief Economist at KPMG in the UK and a Fellow at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. She has been advising clients on the global economic outlook and its impact on their strategy for over 20 years.

Her experience spans private sector clients across a wide range of industries and geographies, as well as public sector bodies. Her research looks at the impact major shocks, as well as new technologies, could have on the economy and on individual businesses. Her work at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research looks at ways to lift growth across UK regions. 

Bio Coming soon 

Donna Leong is Director, Economic Statistics Change at the Office for National Statistics, with the aim of improving the quality, timeliness, accessibility and relevance of economic statistics. An economist by training, she has worked in a variety of roles in government including EU and international trade negotiations, Brexit readiness preparations, economic regulation, consumer policy, and financial stability. 

Phil joined the GLA from the National Infrastructure Commission where he was Chief Executive. Prior to that, he was Head of the Independent Airports Commission after holding two Deputy Director roles in the Department for Transport (DfT) – responsible in one for the government’s high speed rail strategy and in the other for transport security (including work on the Olympics) and research.

Phil had a number of team leader roles in the Civil Service before that. Before, he joined the Civil Service Phil set up and ran an independent theatre company. 

Bio coming soon 

As Director of External Engagement, Tom is responsible for overseeing the WIG Events & Content team and the Membership team. The main focus is to ensure WIG continues to be the leading platform for constructive collaboration between government, industry and the not-for-profit sector. Tom originally joined as Head of Content and Events in 2017.

Before joining WIG, Tom worked across both government and industry. He ran the energy division for a commercial conference company, worked within the Department for International Trade, and developed new business for an independent TV production company that worked exclusively with not-for-profits.

Tom graduated from UCL with a BA (Hons) in History and subsequently picked up a Masters in International Security and Global Governance from Birkbeck.

Outside of WIG, Tom is a keen Tottenham Hotspur fan and spends time exercising, and walking his dog.