Who We Are

The Commission brings together experts from business, academia, civil society, the trade union movement, media and journalism. We are co-chaired by Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect trade union, and Janice Hughes, CEO of Graphite Strategy.

Commissioners

  • Mike Clancy, Co-Chair

    Mike has been General Secretary of Prospect trade union since 2012. He is a member of the Executive Committee and General Council of the Trade Union Congress. In 2016 he was appointed to the council of ACAS and from 2017 he sat on the Nuclear Industry Council. He is a member of the Central Arbitration Committee.

  • Janice Hughes, Co-Chair

    Janice is Director of Graphite Strategy. She founded and built Spectrum, a global management consultancy. She is Chair of the charity Space for Giants focused on conservation, wildlife protection, biodiversity and carbon offsets in Africa. She is a Founding Board Member of the Global Telecom Women’s Network.

  • Paul Adamson

    Paul is chairman of Forum Europe, founder/editor of online magazine Encompass and chairman of the EU-UK Forum. He is a member of the Centre for European Reform’s advisory board and Rand Europe's Council of Advisors. He is a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute, King’s College London.

  • Lionel Barber

    Lionel was Financial Times Washington correspondent and US editor from 1986 to 1992, and Brussels bureau chief from 1992 to 1998. He was editor of the FT from 2005 to 2020, navigating its transition into the digital era, growing its readership and managing its takeover by Nikkei. He has written extensively on European affairs.

  • Adrian Binks

    Adrian is Chairman and CEO of Argus Media, which he has led for almost forty years. Argus is a global business specialising in reporting commodity markets. It has 27 offices located around the world and over 1100 employees. Binks won the prestigious EY International Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2017.

  • Dr Helena Farrand Carrapico

    Helena is Associate Professor in International Relations and Criminology at Northumbria University. She is the author of Brexit and Internal Security: Political and Legal Concerns in the context of the Future UK-EU Relationship. She holds a doctoral degree in Social and Political Sciences.

  • Dr Melanie Garson

    Melanie lectures in Conflict Resolution and International Security at University College London. She is the Internet Policy Lead for Europe, Israel, and the Middle East at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change where she focuses on cybersecurity policy, technology and foreign policy.

  • Martina Garcia

    Martina is an independent Board member at Haitong Bank and the former CEO of CSFI, a London based think tank specialised in financial services innovation. She worked at the LSE Group where she led the international markets strategy team, and was HM Treasury’s deputy-director for Banking and Financial Sector Analysis leading EU negotiations on the post-crisis banking regulatory framework. She has a Ph.D in agricultural economics from Imperial College.

  • Will Hutton

    Will writes for The Observer, co-chairs the Purposeful Company and is the President of the Academy of Social Sciences. He was Principal of Hertford College University of Oxford from 2011 to 2020. He was formerly editor of The Observer and is the author of a number of books on political economy, including The State We’re In.

  • Anna Jerzewska

    Anna is a globally recognised customs and international trade advisor who has been working in trade since 2006. She offers strategic and operational support on a wide range of customs and trade policy matters to both private and public sector clients. She is the founder of Trade and Borders.

  • John Kerr

    John is a politician and former diplomat, now Deputy Chairman of Scottish Power and a crossbench member of the House of Lords. He was Secretary General of the European Convention that first drafted what became Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which came into force in December 2009.

  • Jaydeep Korde

    Jaydeep is an engineer. He sold his cloud computing business in 2005 and has spent 20 years putting useful working software into production for global corporations, banks and the UK government. Jaydeep worked at Thoughtworks and RBS. He is currently the CEO of Launchnodes, a business that provides investment grade Ethereum staking.

  • Tillman Kupfer

    Tilmann Kupfer

    Tilmann is a Brussels-based independent public affairs consultant. For 24 years he worked for BT in EU and international public policy roles. He advocated on EU initiatives in telecoms, digital and media and advised on EU, WTO, transatlantic and UK trade policy, and Brexit. He chaired the Policy Committee of the European Services Forum, was a board member of the European Internet Forum and worked for two German MEPs.

  • Clare Moody

    Clare is co-Chief Executive of Equally Ours, an equality and human rights charity. She was a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England and Gibraltar. She has a specialist understanding of EU matters and their impact in the UK.

  • George Peretz KC

    George is based at Monckton Chambers. He was on the Attorney General’s panel of government counsel for many years before becoming a QC in 2015. He is Joint Chair of the Joint Working Party of UK Bars and Law Societies on Competition Law and Joint Convenor of the UK State Aid Law Association. He writes widely on Brexit-related legal issues.

  • Stefan Stern

    Stefan Stern is a journalist and author. He writes for the Financial Times, The Guardian, Prospect and other titles. His first two books were “Myths of Management – what people get wrong about being the boss” and “How to be a better leader”. He is a Visiting Professor at Bayes Business School, City, University of London, and a Fellow of the RSA.

  • Andy Tarrant

    Andy Tarrant

    Andy is an independent public affairs, public policy and strategic communications adviser. He is a former adviser to Pat McFadden MP when the latter was Shadow Europe Minister and has consulted on Brexit for the Tony Blair Institute. He has held senior positions at B&CE Ltd, BT, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association and OFCOM.

Advisory Group

  • Richard Bentall

    Richard Bentall is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Sheffield and has previously held chairs at Liverpool University, Manchester University and Bangor University. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and a Fellow of the British Academy.

    He holds an MA in philosophy applied to health care awarded by University College Swansea (now Swansea University).

  • Gemma Davies

    Gemma Davies is Associate Professor of Law at Northumbria University. Her research interests lie in the field of transnational criminal law. Her work aims to understand barriers to criminal justice cooperation and seeks to facilitate better cooperation which adequately protects the privacy and fundamental rights of citizens. In recent years her work has focused on the implications of Brexit.

  • Dr Michael Dougan

    Michael is Professor of European Law and Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law at the University of Liverpool. He graduated in Law from the University of Cambridge. He has previously worked as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Cambridge and at University College London. He was appointed Professor of European Law at the University of Liverpool in 2004.

  • Neil Fleming

    Neil is Senior Vice-President, Editorial at Argus Media. He has more than 30 years’ experience in energy and commodities markets. His role is to lead editorial strategy and to manage and develop the company’s coverage of commodities markets worldwide. He previously worked for Platts and as an independent editorial, markets and data consultant.

  • Jessica Gladstone

    Jessica Gladstone is a partner and solicitor-advocate specialising in international arbitration, commercial and public law litigation and public international law. Widely recognised as "one of the brightest talents of her generation" (Chambers UK), she advises on international trade and investment, immunities, economic sanctions and human rights.

  • Prof Christophe Hillion

    Christophe is a Professor of European Law at the University of Oslo. He previously lectured in law at the University of Cambridge and University College London. He is an Academic Fellow at the European Policy Centre and co-founder of the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER) at the Asser Institute in The Hague.

  • Peter Holmes

    Peter Holmes

    Peter is a trade economist, Emeritus Fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory at the University of Sussex.

    He has written extensively and taught about European integration since the 1970s in Sussex, the College of Europe, and Xidian University China.

    His recent work has been on standards and trade, Freeports and the 2026 review of the TCA.

  • David Lawrence

    David is a research fellow in the UK in the World programme at Chatham House which aims to identify and assess the priorities, partnerships, and pathways for the UK after Brexit.

    He previously worked as senior political adviser to the Trade Justice Movement, looking at the UK’s post-Brexit trade policy. Before that, he worked in Parliament for a Labour MP and as a community organiser in North London.

  • Benjamin Martill

    Benjamin is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of Edinburgh.

    His research focuses on the Brexit negotiations and on European foreign, security and defence policy.

    He is Associate Director of the Europa Institute at the University of Edinburgh and an Associate at LSE IDEAS, the foreign policy think-tank of the London School of Economics.

  • Neil McMillan

    Neil McMillan is an ex-UK diplomat and civil servant, now independent consultant operating in Brussels with expertise in advocacy and strategic engagement with EU decision-makers. He has worked in government and for companies in the public affairs, energy and retail and supply chain sector. As a public servant, he was director of the European and Global Issues Secretariat in the Cabinet Office, Head of European Policy in the Department of Trade and Industry and UK permanent representative to the WTO in Geneva.

  • Deborah Meaden

    Deborah is a business leader, investor, TV personality and writer. She is best known for her appearances on the BBC’s Dragon’s Den. She is a fellow of the WWF, and an Ambassador for Lendwithcare, the Marine Conservation Society and the Roundhouse. She is a Trustee of the Tusk Trust.

  • Alistair Morrison

    Alistair has extensive investment management experience across the EMEA Region, having held senior management, strategy, client service, sales and product development positions with leading fund managers including Macquarie, Natixis, Deutsche/Morgan Grenfell, Aviva and Mercury Asset Management. He is a Fellow of the Legatum Institute.

  • Dave Webster

    Dave joined Musicians’ Union in 2004 following a career as a freelance drummer, percussionist and teacher. He has worked for the MU in a variety of London based and national roles. Following our departure from the EU Dave focused his work on tackling difficulties caused for musicians. In 2022 he was made Head of International to take this work forward and to lead on issues MU members face working overseas.

Secretariat

  • Mike Buckley, Director

    Mike has worked on Brexit since 2018. He led efforts to encourage the Government to create a Brexit outcome that would cause minimum harm to the economy and poorer regions. He established the Commission in 2021. Mike formerly worked as an aid worker in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia. He led successful campaigns for fair pay and asylum rights. He holds degrees from the University of Birmingham and Kings College London.