Commissioners

Dame Kate Barker (Chair)

Dame Kate Barker is one of Britain’s foremost economists. Kate was an external member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee for three terms between 2001-2010.

In 2003, Kate was commissioned by the government to conduct a major independent policy review of the UK Housing Supply, leading to a final report in 2004. She was subsequently asked to conduct a similar review of Land Use Planning and her final report was published in 2006. Kate was Chief Economic Adviser at the CBI between 1994-2001.

In 2017, Kate was appointed as a Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission. She is the Chairman of Trustees for the British Coal Staff Superannuation Fund, Chairman of the Jersey Fiscal Policy Panel, and a non-executive director of Taylor Wimpey plc and the Yorkshire Building Society.

In 2014 Kate was made a Dame for services to the economy.

Dr Craig Berry

Craig Berry is the Deputy Director of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) at the University of Sheffield.

Craig is a political economist and specialises in UK economic policy, finance, manufacturing and pensions. He is the author of Austerity Politics and UK Economic Policy (2016), Globalisation and Ideology in Britain (2011) and has forthcoming books on UK pensions policy and the political economy of the Northern Powerhouse.

Craig has previously been a policy adviser on state pensions and older people at the Treasury, Pensions Policy Officer at the Trades Union Congress, and Head of Policy and Senior Researcher at the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK). He is also currently a member of the advisory board at the Intergenerational Foundation and an Associate Fellow at the ILC-UK.

Professor Diane Coyle

Diane Coyle is Professor of Economics at The University of Manchester and co-director of Policy@Manchester.

Diane is the founder of Enlightenment Economics, a Fellow of the Office for National Statistics and a member of the Natural Capital Committee. She was Vice-Chair of the BBC Trust between 2006-2015, a member of the Migration Advisory Committee between 2007-2012 and a member of the Competition Commission between 2001-2009.

Diane specialises in competition analysis and the economics of new technologies and globalisation. She is the author of several books, including GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History (2014), The Economics of Enough (2011), The Soulful Science (2007), Sex, Drugs and Economics (2002), and Paradoxes of Prosperity (2001). She was previously Economics Editor of The Independent and before that worked at the Treasury and in the private sector as an economist. She has a PhD from Harvard.

Professor Richard Jones

Richard Jones is Professor of Physics at the University of Sheffield and a Council Member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

From 2009 to 2016 he was Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at the University of Sheffield, a role in which he helped to develop the Sheffield City Region Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District. He is an Associate Fellow of the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2006.

Richard specialises in nanotechnology and in science, innovation, productivity and economic policy. He is the author of more than 120 research papers, and three books including Soft Machines: nanotechnology and life (2004). He chaired the UK Government’s Nanotechnology Engagement Group, and from 2007-2009 was the Senior Strategic Advisor for Nanotechnology for the EPSRC.

Professor Andy Westwood

Andy Westwood is the Associate Vice President for Public Affairs at The University of Manchester and co-director of Policy@Manchester. He is a Professor of Politics and Policy and Director of the University Observatory at the University of Wolverhampton.

Andy is the President of the OECD’s Forum for Social Innovation, and an expert adviser for the OECD’s Local Employment and Economic Development programme and for the International Monetary Fund. He was previously Chief Executive of GuildHE, head of policy at The Work Foundation and director of the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion.

Between 2005-2010, he worked in government as an adviser to ministers in the Treasury, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Tom Hunt (Secretariat)

Tom Hunt is Policy Research Officer at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI).

Tom manages the Industrial Strategy Commission’s work and leads SPERI’s work with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Inclusive Growth. Before joining SPERI he was a parliamentary researcher.

You can contact Tom at contact@industrialstrategycommission.org.uk

Dr Marianne Sensier (Research support)

Marianne Sensier is an economist at The University of Manchester.

She specialises in business cycles, regional economics, and monetary policy. She has worked on several ESRC projects based at the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research.