Lord Jim O’Neill
Chair of Northern Gritstone & Member of the House of Lords
About Speaker
Jim O’Neill is a member of the House of Lords, sitting on the cross benches since he stepped down as Commercial Secretary to the Treasury in September 2016.
Jim is Chair of Northern Gritstone, a private investment company to support and expand start -up businesses, primarily originating from the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield. He is Co-President of, and formerly Chair of, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership and is a member of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Economic Advisory Council. He chaired the Cities Growth Commission in the UK, which formed the basis for the Cameron government’s approach to devolution and the concept of the Northern Powerhouse.
Jim is Chair of the NeoTest AMC working group launched by CGD to develop an advance market commitment for rapid diagnostic tests to combat neonatal sepsis in low and middle-income countries where the need is the greatest.
He also still spends time on economic and finance of International Health Policy, having contributing to the UK G7 on Health, served on The Times Health Commission, and serving on the Monti Commission. Jim chaired an independent Review into AMR for the Cameron Government, helping drive HM Government’s strategy as well as providing key input to the United Nations high level agreement in 2016. In 2018, Jim published a book, Superbugs, on AMR with two of his colleagues from the Review.
He has also served on the Boards of a number of international think tanks, including Chairing Chatham House from 2018 to 2021, and the initial Board of BREUGEL.
He is Honorary Professor of Economics at Manchester University. He holds honorary degrees from the University of Sheffield, University of Manchester, University of Hull, University of London, University of Surrey and from City University London. He received his PhD from the University of Surrey and is now a Visiting Professor there.
Jim, creator of the acronym “BRIC”, worked for Goldman Sachs from 1995 until April 2013, spending most of his time there as Chief Economist.
He is a board member and a founding trustee of the UK educational charity, SHINE. Jim has served on the boards of a number of educational foundations.