The forum contributes to ACCA’s research and insights work with powerful visions of the future. It provides a platform to look forward: to tune into the emerging trends and discussions in the global business and policy spheres and the latest reforms facing the world of finance.
Keith Leslie
Chair of Samaritans in the UK & Ireland, Chair of Mental Health At Work CIC
Keith’s executive career was with Shell 1982-93 where he held a series of general manager roles in the UK, New Zealand, Sweden and Cyprus. He then joined the consulting firm McKinsey 1993-2006 where, as a partner, he served energy companies and government agencies on issues of strategy, organisation and operations. He moved to Deloitte 2006-17 as a partner and he served clients in Europe, North America, Africa and the Middle East, focussing on Government in the fields of defence, tax, health and transport.
Keith has led a series of charities and is committed to working to promote mentally-healthy workplaces. He was Chair at BuildAfrica 2010-15, the Mental Health Foundation 2014-20 and now Samaritans and Mental Health At Work.
Keith is the author of A Question of Leadership – leading organizational change in times of crisis (Bloomsbury 2021) and he regularly publishes and speaks at conferences on leadership, major projects and mental health.
Keith grew up in Kirkcaldy, Scotland and graduated with first class honours in law from the University of Edinburgh, where he was elected President of the Students Association. He then took an MBA summa cum laude at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Narayanan Vaidyanathan, Head of Business Insights at ACCA.
Narayanan has a global remit for the topics he covers and leads a team of subject-matter and policy experts with diverse skills. He oversees ACCA’s futures research exploring the impact of future trends on business, and on the profession.
He is the staff expert for the Accountancy Futures Academy Global Forum, and represents ACCA on various government, industry and academic forums.