Noreena Hertz

CONTACT INFORMATION

Tel: + 44 207 483 1766
E-mail: n.hertz@jbs.cam.ac.uk

BIOGRAPHY

For more than two decades, Hertz’s economic predictions have not only been accurate and ahead of the curve, but crucial for the success of the world’s economy. Often called upon to consult for multi-national corporations and high profile CEO’s, Hertz has become one of the most influential economists on the international stage. From prime ministers to presidents, global superpowers to emerging markets, Hertz helps make sense of a complex world.

Currently the Duisenberg Professor of Globalization, Sustainability and Finance based at both RSM, Erasmus University and University of Cambridge, Hertz’s work offers a much needed blueprint for rethinking economics. Her unique, integrated approach weaves traditional economic analysis into foreign policy trends, psychology and sociology, all against a backdrop of a profound understanding of shifting geo-political tectonics.

Hertz’s career began in St. Petersburg where, after completing her MBA at Wharton, she helped establish the city’s stock exchange—and tutored Boris Yeltsin’s advisors in market economics. Hertz then became a consultant at the World Bank, advising the Russian government on economic reforms, specifically the shift from a communist model to a capitalist system.

After earning her Ph.D. at Cambridge, Hertz moved to the Middle East, where she headed a team of 40 researchers exploring roles the private sector might play in the peace process.

In her #1 best-selling book The Silent Takeover, Hertz predicted that unregulated markets and massive financial institutions would have serious global consequences, impacting the ordinary citizen. Following the financial meltdown and recession of 2008-09, many commentators have described Professor Hertz as a visionary.




Her 2005 best-seller, The Debt Threat: How debt is destroying the developing world…and threatening us all, exposed the dangers of irrational lending. It has been hailed as one of the most important texts exploring the impact of debt on society at large.





Hertz played a leading role in the development of (RED) - an innovative commercial model to raise money for aids victims in Africa that Starbucks and The Gap have most recently become part of. Bono, who co-founded project (RED), accredits Hertz’s writings as the inspiration for the (RED) project.

Hertz’s op-ed pieces have been published in The Washington Post, New Statesman, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and The Times of London. Besides a heavy broadcasting and writing schedule on both sides of the Atlantic, Hertz regularly takes part in debates and panels with leading politicians and public figures as diverse as Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Sachs, Larry Summers and William Cohen.

Hertz was most recently profiled in the November 2009 issue of " Fast Company"


RECENT PUBLICATIONS

SENIOR ACADEMIC POSTS

2007- present Fellow, Centre for Global Governance, London School of Economics
2003 – present Associate Director, Centre for International Business and Management, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
2004- 2006 Distinguished Fellow, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
2005- 2006 Professor of Global Political Economy, Belle Van Zulyen Chair, University of Utrecht
2004 Rockefeller Foundation, “Bellagio Fellowship”
2002-2003 2002-2003 Miliband Fellow, London School of Economics
1999- Present Senior Research Associate, JIMS, University of Cambridge
1997-2001 University Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge
1996 Head of Research, Centre for Middle East Competitive Strategy. Tel Aviv, Gaza and Amman. Managed 40 person research team. Examined prospects for regional economic cooperation.

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS

1996 PhD, University of Cambridge (joint supervision by Management and Economics Department)
1991 MBA, Finance and Marketing, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
1987 BA, Philosophy and Economics, University College London

SENIOR ADVISOR POSITIONS/ADVISORY BOARDS

2007- present Advisory Board Member, Citigroup, Economics and Politics Advisory Board
2001 – present Advisor to President Mkapa of Tanzania, The Norwegian government, Africa Commission (Blair initiative), Bono and Bobby Shriver on the “Red Project” (Bono’s initiative which America Express, Gap, Armani, Motorola and Nike have signed up to). The Make Poverty History Coalition, Jubilee Debt Campaign, the State of Bayelsa, Nigeria.
1992 – 2001 Advisor to the IFC, Russian government, Russian municipality of Yaroslavl, Ministers in Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian governments.

BOOK PUBLICATIONS

2004 I.O.U: The Debt Threat and Why We Must Defuse It (Harper Collins) Book is translated into 10 languages and is an international bestseller (Foreign Affairs, Amazon)
2001 The Silent Takeover (The Free Press/Random House/Harper Collins) Book is translated into 15 languages and is an international bestseller (Sunday Times, Amazon, Wall Street Journal)
1997 Russian Business Relationships in the Wake of Reform (Macmillan Academic Press/ St Martin’s Press New York)

JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS

2001 – present Published over fifty opinion/comment pieces in leading European and American newspapers (Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Prospect, Washington Post, etc.) Had regular monthly syndicated column in 8 countries. Published numerous academic papers on corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and development issues. These include:

  • “Globalisation: Sharing the Spoils or Hoarding the Gains”, University of Utrecht Oratie“, 2005
  • The Debt Threat”, Contributions to Political Economy, 2005 Publication of keynote speech, Van der Leuuw Lecture,  Groningen, 2004
  • “Debt: Dossier” Geographical, November 2004
  • “Debt is a Feminist Issue”, The Guardian, October 2004
  • “Corporations on the Front Line”, Corporate Governance: An International Review, 2004
  • “Drop Saddam’s Debt”, De Volkskraant, March 2003
  • “A Mainstream Movement”, Brand Strategy, January 2003
  • “Fight the Power”, Media and Marketing Europe, December 2002
  • “Global Pillage”, San Francisco Chronicle, September 2002
  • “Of Gates and Ghettos”, Fabian Review, Spring 2002
  • “Trojan Horse at the Feast of Globalisation”, The Observer, February 2002
  • “Soziale Agenda fur die Globalisierung” Financial Times Deutschland, November 2001
  • “A Plan for the World: Exclusion”, New Statesman, October 2001
  • “We Beg to Differ”, The Guardian, September 2001
  • “Decrying Wolf”, Prospect, August/September 2001
  • “I’m on Their Side, To a Point”, The Washington Post July 2001
  • ‘Shop Don’t Vote’, Business Ethics: A European Review, Summer 2001
  • “Democracy in Crisis”, The Observer, June 2001
  • “A Bad Day for Democracy”, The Observer, May 2001
  • “Why Consumer Power is Not Enough”, New Statesman, April 2001
  • “Why we must stay silent no longer”, The Observer, April 2001 (special essay-3000 words)
  • “Better to Shop than to Vote” (cover story), The New Statesman, June 1999
  • “The Bottom-Up Solution” (with Michael Porter and Y.Weinberg), The Financial Times, September 1997
  • “Torgovy Dom Preobrazhensky” (case study), Harvard Business School Publications, June 1995
  • “Higher Risk is Greater Safety”, European Brief, July/August 1994

SELECTED MAGAZINE AND NEWSPAPER PROFILES

Profiled in The Times Magazine, The Evening Standard, Saturday Telegraph Magazine, Times Higher Education Supplement, Sunday Independent Review, Irish Times, Tribune, New York Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, The Times, Vogue, Stern, Tagespiegel, Cash, Vrij Niederlander, La Stampa, La Republicca, De Groene Amsterdammer, Knack, Die Welt, Weltwoche, The Gottenburg Post, Harpers Bazaar, Commonwealth Magazine, as well as in numerous other foreign language publications. Accolades include: “One of the world’s most inspirational women”, Vogue, June 2003, “Best of Young British”, New Statesman July 2001 “One of the Top 35 Women under 35”, Management Today, July 2001.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

2001 – present Keynote speaker at major conferences and events including World Economic Forum, Fabian Society Annual Conference, Trade Union Congress, Royal College of Nursing Annual Conference, Siemens Foundation, Royal Geographic Society, Oxford Union, IG Metall Annual Conference, PM Guy Verhofstadt’s Initiative on Globalisation, Jubilee Debt conference, Make Poverty History/Live Aid, European Parliament, Norwegian Labour Party Conference, Oxford Union, Institute of Social Studies, University of Maastricht, New America Foundation etc.
Panelist at major conferences events. Fellow panelists include President Bill Clinton, Mary Robinson, Professor Hernando de Soto, Professor Jadish Bhagwati, and Professor Jeffrey Sachs.
Keynote speaker at major corporate conferences. Recent clients include De Beers, HSBC, EDS, Infosys, Accenture, bp, TNT, Swedbank, Deloitte, McDonalds, BBC, Unysis, Orange, KPMG, RBS. Recent feedback includes “outstanding”, “most highly rated speaker by our clients in 20 years”, “inspirational”.