Ron Anderson is Professor of Finance at London School of Economics. Prof Anderson has published several papers including: 'Liquidity and Capital Structure' (with Andrew Carverhill), Review of Financial Studies (2011); and 'Financing and Corporate Growth under Repeated Moral Hazard' (with Kjell Nyborg), Journal of Financial Intermediation (2011). His research interests include: dynamic corporate finance; contingent claims analysis; credit risk; financial market structure and regulation; and structuring financial contracts and institutions.

James Davenport is the Finance Director of innocent, the No. 1 smoothie brand in the UK and Europe, which launched 13 years ago. innocent now has over 75% market share in the UK and sells in 15 different countries across Europe, with its products available in every major chain, from Sainsbury’s to Boots to Starbucks. After a two week holiday in Africa became a five year stay (and involved the launch of a small business), Mr Davenport returned to the UK in 2000 and qualified as a chartered accountant with BDO. He joined innocent as their first finance person in 2003; in ten years the organisation has grown from £7m to a turnover of over £200m. They sell over two million pure fruit smoothies each week in 15,000 outlets. The range has expanded to include: smoothies in little bottles and big cartons; smoothies and juice for kids; a refreshing not-from-concentrate juice range; and veg pots, a range of quick and tasty meals. The team has grown from three to 250 people who work across Europe.

Brian Groom was appointed Financial Times’ UK Business and Employment Editor in January 2009, having spent four years as Comment and Analysis Editor. Prior to that Mr Groom was the Editor of the continental European edition for three years. Before that he was Political Editor and UK and Regional Affairs Editor. Mr Groom first joined the FT in 1978, writing on labour issues. He was part of the team that launched the European edition in 1979 and he became UK News Editor in 1985. Between 1988 and 1997 he worked on Scotland on Sunday where he was Deputy Editor until 1994 and then Editor for three years. He returned to the FT in 1997. He graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1976.

Stephen Houghton has 21 years' experience in the derivatives markets, from an initial 3 year spell as a quant risk analyst, 3 years in trading and 10 years in sales as a front line equity derivatives structured product marketer and the last 5 years in financial risk advisory. Mr Houghton started his career as an Electronic Engineering masters graduate with British Telecom, before moving into the city as an equity derivatives trader and sales person for HSBC, Abbey National, Commerzbank and Natexis before joining HBOS in 2005 as a Director within the treasury front office, working closely with the Retail and Insurance divisions covering ALM activities as well as retail products structuring. After the merger with Lloyds, Mr Houghton joined the Financial Risk Advisory team within Lloyds Bank Wholesale Banking & Markets division. He works extensively with financial institutions and corporate clients, investigating their exposure to financial market risk and helping them optimise their cash and liquidity positions. He continues to be one of the group's Solvency II experts for insurers and a specialist in client liquidity, FX and interest rate risks. He has recently had an article published in the Treasurer magazine about the optimal liquidity strategy for corporate treasurers.

Henri Servaes is the Richard Brealey Professor of Corporate Governance and Professor of Finance at London Business School's Institute of Finance and Accounting. Prof Servaes is also Associate Editor, Journal of Finance; Journal of Corporate Finance; Financial Management; European Financial Management; and Journal of Financial Research. PHe is the author of several publications including ‘What Drives Corporate Liquidity? An International Survey of Cash Holdings and Lines of Credit’ (with K Lins and P Tufano), Journal of Financial Economics (2010); and ‘The Theory and Practice of Corporate Risk Management’ (with A Tamayo and P Tufano), Journal of Applied Corporate Finance (2009). Prof Servaes is formerly Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance, University of Chicago; Visiting Professor of Finance, K.U. Leuven; and Associate Professor of Finance, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include corporate control, initial public offerings, mutual funds and capital structure.

Trevor Williams is the Chief Economist at Lloyds Bank Wholesale Markets Division. The economics team supports the Bank’s trading and sales activities. Mr Williams joined Lloyds Bank from the UK Civil Service where he worked as an Economist, after a few years lecturing. He regularly writes articles for publications and appears in the financial press and on television. He is a member of the Institute for Economic Affairs Shadow Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), made up of leading independent monetary economists. This shadow MPC was set up two months after the main MPC began in 1997. He is a visiting Professor of Banking and Finance at Derby University.