Lord Michael Hastings CBE will come to Jersey on 22nd January to talk and chair a discussion on Sustainable Development. He is visiting the Island on behalf of KPMG in the Channel Islands and his itinerary will include a school’s workshop and business seminar. 

Lord Hastings became KPMG International’s Global Head of Corporate Citizenship in 2006. Since then, he has presented widely and driven change in regard to global business sustainability and responsibility. 

An audience of senior business leaders, governing bodies and politicians will attend Lord Hastings talk at The Radisson Hotel. The event will focus on the UN’s new set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals which are aimed at making the world more prosperous, inclusive, sustainable and resilient. Lord Hastings will talk about KPMG International’s involvement in this initiative and will foster a wider debate on the role of businesses around the world to support these global goals, including a discussion around economic growth and the reality of democracy. 

Prior to becoming KPMG International’s Head of Citizenship, Lord Hastings joined the BBC as Head of Public Affairs and then became its first Head of Corporate Social Responsibility. He is also a trustee of the Vodafone Group Foundation and previously served for nine years on the Board for Responsible Business at British Telecom. He has represented KPMG on the Global Corporate Citizenship Committee of the World Economic Forum (2008-2010) and in 2009 became a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Diversity and Talent. He is listed as one of the 100 most influential black people in Britain and No.6 on the 2016 list of 100 Black British Business Leaders. 

In 2005, he was awarded the honour of an independent peerage to the House of Lords by Her Majesty The Queen. In the same year, he also received the UNICEF award for ‘outstanding contribution to understanding and effecting solutions for Africa’s children’. Lord Hastings is also Chancellor of Regents University London.

Whilst in Jersey, Lord Hastings, who began his career as a teacher, will be introducing and chairing a Cyber Awareness Workshop for Jersey secondary school students; in conjunction with KPMG and the JCG Foundation. The workshop will take place at Jersey College for Girls and a number of schools across the Island have been offered the opportunity to send up to five students. The session will focus on the use of personal data, chat rooms, social media, cyber bullying, and online gaming; with the purpose of helping today’s youth better understand internet and cyber risk. The intention is that the students who attend will then return to their schools to champion cyber security best practice and encourage others to get involved and to raise awareness. 

Jason Laity, Senior Partner, KPMG in the Channel Islands, says:

‘It’s a great privilege to be hosting Lord Michael Hastings CBE in Jersey. 2018 will do doubt be another year of significant and unpredictable change and against that backdrop it’s never been more important for Jersey to participate in the debate on sustainability and resilience in relation to business and the global economy. 

I know he is also particularly looking forward to participating in the cyber security awareness workshop at JCG – cyber security awareness is more critical now than ever before for all, and it’s particularly useful and important to embed those skills at an early stage.’