Andrew Kakabadse Memorial Lecture

The memorial lecture will be delivered by Lord Simon Case, member of the House of Lords and former Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service. It will cover the topic 'How do we make the state more effective?'

Before his untimely passing in 2025, Andrew was a Professor of Governance and Leadership at Henley Business School. A distinguished scholar who made an enduring mark both at Henley Business School and across the world, his research covered board performance, governance, leadership and policy.

His consulting, researching and lecturing led him across 41 countries, including the UK, Europe, the USA, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Russia, Georgia, the Gulf States and Australia. This work covered the private, public and third sectors, collaborating with more than 20,000 international organisations, and he published more than 270 scholarly articles and 48 books, including bestsellers The Politics of Management, Working in Organisations, The Success Formula and Leadership Intelligence: The 5Qs.

His background was in environmental sciences, child guidance and psychiatric social work, public policy and organisational psychology. His consultancy clients included the British, Irish, Australian, Omani, UAE and Saudi Arabian governments, Citi, the Bank of America, Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), Ford, NatWest Bank, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), British Airways, Lufthansa, Swedish Post, Severstal, Heidrick and Struggles, Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG), the Bank of Ireland and Royal Ulster Constabulary. He advised United Nations agencies, the World Bank, charities and health and police organisations.

Listed in Who's Who, Andrew was a life member of the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame and a Fellow of the European Academy of Science and Arts, the British Psychological Society, the British Academy of Management and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries. He held visiting positions with Macquarie University (Australia), the Center for Creative Leadership (USA) and Université Paris II Pantheon-Assas (France).

Andrew's intellectual contributions were matched only by his humanity, integrity and generosity of spirit. He was not only a respected academic and advisor to many global organisations; he was a friend, a mentor and an inspiring colleague to many. In particular, his commitment to excellence, his thoughtfulness in conversation and his deeply global outlook resonated with colleagues.

This event to pay tribute to Andrew's lasting impact will be held in the National Grid Lecture Theatre of Henley Business School's Greenlands campus. For those unable to attend in-person, there will also be an option to dial-in remotely via Microsoft Teams.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

5:00pm - Arrival, registration and light refreshments

5:30pm - Welcome and eulogy, led by Professor Yelena Kalyuzhnova

5:45pm - Memories and impact of Andrew Kakabadse's research, led by Bernard Jenkin MP

6:15pm - 'How do we make the state more effective?' lecture, led by Lord Simon Case

6:45pm - Question and answer session, led by Lord Simon Case

7:15pm - Reflection on Andrew Kakabadse's legacy within the University of Reading, led by Helen Gordon

7:30pm - Networking and light refreshments

Expressions of interest are now open. Please register here and those that have been invited will be sent an email with the full instructions to join on the day. The dress code on the day is smart-casual or formal attire.

The speakers are listed below.

Professor Yelena Kalyuzhnova

Professor Yelena Kalyuzhnova is Director of the Centre for Euro-Asian Studies and Head of Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation at Henley Business School. She is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (PFHEA).

Yelena is a proponent of experiential learning and research-based teaching, joining Henley Business School's department of Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation in 2012. After working as an Economic Adviser to the President of Kazakhstan, Yelena founded the Centre for Euro-Asian Studies at the University of Reading. She has a wide knowledge of emerging economies and their transition and was an economic adviser on Caspian issues to the Rt. Hon. Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, Q.C., in the House of Lords. She was also an economic adviser to the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kazakhstan (2006-2010) and is a Senior Visiting Research Fellow of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and a Visiting Professor at Yeditepe Üniversitesi, Turkey.

Having co-authored the paper 'Corruption and Economic Development in Energy-Rich Economies' with Ali Kutan and Taner Yigit, Yelena received the prestigious Bergson Prize for the best paper published in Comparative Economic Studies from 2009-2010. The award included a monetary prize and a plaque, presented during the annual meetings of the Association for Comparative Economic Studies in Chicago.

Yelena was announced as the winner of the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme 2019, a prestigious award led by Advance HE to celebrate and reward outstanding individual impact across the UK. She is also a Certified Management and Business Educator and the Chair of the British Institute of Energy Economics Council.

Sir Bernard Jenkin MP

Sir Bernard Jenkin was elected to Parliament in 1992. He has served as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport and for Defence and as a Shadow Minister for Energy.

Between 2006 and 2010, Sir Bernard was a member of the House of Commons Defence Select Committee. From 2010 to 2019, he chaired the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee and from 2020 to 2024 he was Chair of the Liaison Committee.

Today, Sir Bernard is Chair of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments. He is also a member of the Executive of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs and the author of a number of publications on the European Union, UK defence policy and conservativism.

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The Rt Hon Lord Simon Case PhD, Commander of the Victorian Cross (CVO)

Simon joined the House of Lords in July 2025 as a Crossbench peer. Alongside this, he holds a number of advisory positions in private equity and artificial intelligence companies. He is the independent chair of Team Barrow, which is a unique partnership between central government, local government and British Aerospace Systems, delivering a 10-year long regeneration programme for the town of Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria, the home of the UK's nuclear submarine construction industry. Simon is also a non-executive director of the UK Ministry of Defence and an Ambassador for the RAF Charitable Trust and the Patchwork Foundation.

Earlier in his career, Simon served in the UK's public service for two decades. He was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service for four and half years, serving four Prime Ministers through the COVID-19 and Ukraine crises and reign change. As Head of the Civil Service, Simon led the UK's half a million civil servants. Prior to this, Simon held a number of roles, including Permanent Secretary in No 10, Private Secretary to HRH The Duke of Cambridge, Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister and Director at Government Communications Headquarters. He was on the Brexit negotiation team and held a number of other roles in the UK's national security community.

Helen Gordon

Helen has served as President of Council at the University of Reading since August 2022 having been a member of Council from 2017. She is also a leadership coach and has coached senior leaders in the not-for-profit, charity and commercial sectors for over 16 years. In addition, she is a trustee of the charity Arts Enterprise for Social Purpose and was appointed a non-executive director of Iaan Douglas Gordon (IDG) Security in January 2024. She has contributed to higher education governance for some time, having served as a governor at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, which is now a university, for nine years before joining University of Reading.

From February 2019 to August 2023, Helen was the Chief Executive of the Science Council, responsible for setting standards for professional registration for scientists and technicians working in science, plus supporting a broad network of 36 professional bodies in science on areas of interdisciplinary science interest.

Originally training as a nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, she progressed through a number of clinical and managerial positions in hospitals in the National Health Service. Helen went onto lead the Hillingdon Hospital and then Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust in Southeast London as Chief Executive.

She then moved to national CEO roles to support the development of health professionals. Between 2005 and 2018, Helen led the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Royal Society of Medicine.

She was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of General Practitioners in 2013, an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Reading in 2016 and in Honorary Doctorate of Science from City, University of London in 2019.