Bronwen Maddox Keynote Speaker

Director and CEO, Chatham House (2022- )
Director of the Institute for Government (2016 and 2022)
Editor and Chief Executive, Prospect magazine (2010-2016)

Bronwen Maddox's Biography

Bronwen Maddox is Director and CEO of think tank Chatham House.

Prior to this, she was the Director of the Institute for Government (2016-2022). Previously, she was the foreign editor of The Times and editor of current affairs magazine Prospect, a leading current affairs and culture magazine based in the UK, from 2010 to 2016.

Renowned for her incisive analysis and crisp style, she has a reputation for not being afraid to reach a judgement on the day’s events. She is the author of “In Defence of America” (2009), a book arguing the case for supporting the US after the Iraq war.

While Chief Foreign Commentator of The Times (2006-10), and was also the paper’s Foreign Editor between 1999 and 2006, the paper won the prestigious Foreign Press Association award for the best UK coverage of 9/11 and was the only UK newspaper to keep a bureau in Baghdad throughout the Iraq war. She travelled widely, writing about economics and politics, including in Iraq, Iran, Russia and China.

From 1996 to 1999, she was The Times’ US Editor and Washington Bureau Chief, writing a weekly oped column and a business column from Capitol Hill. She was previously at the Financial Times, where she ran the paper’s year-long, award-winning investigation into the publishing tycoon, Robert Maxwell, and wrote its editorials on microeconomics and regulation. Before the Financial Times, Bronwen was Director of the highly-ranked media investment analyst team at Kleinwort Benson Securities for five years.

Bronwen has extensive contacts which span the worlds of government, finance, business and military, she has interviewed some of the world’s most controversial and high-profile leaders, including George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and Angela Merkel. The Kremlin picked her to be the sole British journalist interviewing then President Vladimir Putin ahead of a controversial G8 summit. She also interviewed Benazir Bhutto at her home in Karachi on her triumphant return to Pakistan from exile, shortly before her assassination.

She has been a Trustee (board member) of the Imperial War Museum (2010-2014) and of the Ditchley Foundation, the distinguished conference centre which promotes transatlantic discussion.

She leads Chatham House as Director and Chief Executive, bringing board-level insight into geopolitics, security and the economic forces reshaping international order.
She translates fast-moving global crises into clear judgement and practical implications for leaders, drawing on decades as a foreign editor and commentator covering war, diplomacy and markets.
She brings rare access and first-hand perspective from interviewing world leaders across the US, Europe and Russia, helping audiences understand how power is exercised and how decisions are really made.
She equips senior teams to navigate government, business and defence intersections with confidence, informed by experience spanning the Institute for Government, the Financial Times and The Times.
She helps organisations stress-test strategy and communications in moments of uncertainty, showing how to read risk, cut through noise and act with clarity.