Alex Deane, Managing Director & Head of Public Affairs — Strategic Communications FTI Consulting

A former barrister, Alex Deane has more than 10 years’ experience in advocacy and has worked with numerous high profile individuals and companies in a senior advisory capacity. He was Chief of Staff to David Cameron and Tim Collins during their respective periods as Shadow Secretaries of State for Education and served as an adviser for the Australian Liberal (right of centre) Party’s re-election campaign under John Howard.

Alex served as the founding Director of Big Brother Watch and is an elected Common Councilman in the City of London Corporation, serving on the main decision-making body in the Square Mile, the Policy and Resources Committee.

At FTI Consulting, Alex leads a large team of Public Affairs professionals and specialises in Westminster and Whitehall strategic counsel, with a significant additional focus on international regulatory issues and political affairs. He has advised MasterCard for several years on complex regulatory multimarket issues. Other fields of work in which Alex has delivered counsel for major clients include: Manufacturing (Saab Aerospace, Finmeccanica); Energy (EDF Energy, ExxonMobil, Oil & Gas UK, National Grid, ConocoPhilips); IT and Communications (Microsoft, Palantir, EE); Engineering (Honeywell); Healthcare (AstraZeneca, Boston Scientific, Abbott Laboratories); Chemicals (Dow Chemical).

Alex often appears in the media as a political commentator; he is a Sky News regular and a BBC Dateline London panellist. He is a regular columnist in UK publications and an author and editor, most recently of Big Brother Watch: The State of Civil Liberties in Britain. Alex is a Rotary Scholar and World Universities Debating Champion with a degree from Cambridge University.