Members' Summer Networking Event & In Conversation with David Lubin

Join Impact Boards EM for an intimate evening of insightful discussions and networking with fellow board directors on Tuesday 10th June, 5pm-8pm at the elegant House of ByRo in London. The event will feature a special one-hour conversation with David Lubin, followed by a relaxed reception with drinks and canapés.

Geopolitics and Global Trade’s risks scored low in boardrooms for decades. The benefits that had been reaped following the US led post-war global construct provided relative stability, a global reserve currency in the USD, and a mechanism to globalise trade through WTO reducing costs and improving supply chain efficiency. Since January 2025, this paradigm is no longer in place. 

Join us in an evening conversation with David Lubin, former HSBC and Citi EM macro economist, and Chatham House Fellow to discuss what are the alternative scenarios that follow the post-war construct. 

In this conversation, David will touch upon several themes that are now of critical importance to boards around the world, such as: 

1. The US has moved from a construct of alliances based on shared values to zero-sum transactionally based bilateral relationships. Is this tenable in a complex world where countries with revisionists views want to tinker with territorial borders, climate change as a physical and economic risk remains largely unaddressed, and technology’s fast pace of progress, such as AI, has the potential of upend the global economy and human society? 

   
   

2. The US is weaponising trade, the use of the financial system and the USD to attain concessions from other countries. How do boards think through these new risks in terms of rethinking their supply chain, rebalancing their currency exposure and setting their future investment plans? 

   
   

3. US policy for the last four months has been trying to square the circle: Reducing or keeping inflation in check while raising tariffs for every day goods and supply parts, upending the US Bond market by introducing imported inflation from tariffs while planning for a big tax cut, demanding partner nations not to move away from the USD whilst its status as a reserve currency comes under intense scrutiny among others. Is there a rational approach to resolve these paradoxes, and what is the policy end game for them? 

   
   

4. In an alternative scenario where the US loses global influence in politics and economics as a result of the current policies, who stands to gain influence and how? 

   
   

5. AI is poised to shock the global economy by eliminating white collar jobs at an unprecedented rate. How can boards think through this risk/opportunity insofar as AI comes attached with a sovereign strategic component that makes it a weapon in this new geopolitical reality. 

   
   

6. If AI can replace high level management/technical supervision, then together with robotics it could level the playing field for all nations that can assemble this combo. Is this not invalidating the thesis that you can recover blue and mid-level white collar jobs by bringing back supply chains onshore? 

   
   

The talk will be moderated by Greg Saichin, Impact Boards EM CEO and Co-Founder and will include a 10 minute Q&A.

About David Lubin  

David Lubin is the Michael Klein Senior Research Fellow in the Global Economy and Finance Programme where he focuses on China, and on economic policy in developing and advanced economies. 

Before joining Chatham House, he was managing director and head of emerging markets economics at Citi, an American bank, where he was responsible for a team of some 30 economists in 15 locations globally. 

Prior to joining Citi in 2006, David had spent many years as an economist at HSBC. David has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University; and a postgraduate degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 

David is the published author of the FT shortlisted economics books of 2018, “Dance of the Trillions: Developing Countries and Global Finance” 

You can view David's LinkedIn profile here.

To reserve your spot, please sign up as soon as possible as spaces are limited. This networking event is for members only. You can become a member by purchasing a membership plan here.