Olga Maitland Keynote Speaker

Lady Olga Maitland is a distinguished campaigner on defence and security and a sought-after voice on international platforms. As a Member of Parliament (1992–1997), she advocated robust UK and European security and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt Hon Sir John Wheeler, Northern Ireland Minister for Security. Her perspective combines frontline political experience with decades of engagement across diplomacy, media, and business.

In 1983, Olga founded Families for Defence to counter CND’s one-sided disarmament agenda and to support Britain’s NATO commitments. She challenged Greenham Common protestors nationwide, organised pro-NATO demonstrations, and built public understanding of deterrence. During this campaign she met President Ronald Reagan in a private White House meeting, visited Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, and consulted in Moscow with Genrikh Borovic, a key strategist behind Soviet anti-nuclear movements. She attended the Reagan–Gorbachev summits in Geneva and Moscow, witnessing the diplomacy that led to the INF Treaty.

With the INF Treaty achieved, Olga established the Defence and Security Forum (1991), which convenes leaders shaping global security. DSF has hosted figures including Malcolm Turnbull (PM of Australia, 2015–2018), the late Benazir Bhutto, and MI6 Chief Sir Richard Moore, and today focuses on threats to UK and European security. Before Parliament, she was a leading Fleet Street journalist—columnist at the Sunday Express for over 20 years, later at the Daily Mail—and a frequent TV and radio broadcaster.

Olga’s commercial and governance roles include President, Algeria British Business Council; Advisory Board, Audere International; CEO, International Money Transfer Network (IAMTN); Non-Executive Director, Earthport plc (acquired by Visa); and Co-Chair, Copenhagen Compliance (2012–2024). She chaired the Anglo-Jordanian Society (2013–2016) and served on the Advisory Board of the Istanbul Co-Operation Summits (from 2012). Her book Margaret Thatcher: The First Ten Years (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1989) remains a noted political study. She speaks globally at corporate risk and security conferences, addressing the risks that corporates face to their companies and their clients, now that hybrid war has been acknowledged with increasing Russian interference from sabotage to cyber attacks all over Europe and UK included. She offers clear, actionable insight for leaders navigating volatility.