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Finance speaker Alex Edmans

Alex Edmans

Professor of Finance, London Business School | Bestselling Author of Grow the Pie & May Contain Lies | Thinkers50 Radar | TED Speaker on Purposeful Business

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Speaker Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School and one of the world's most influential voices on purposeful business and responsible investing. His bestsellers Grow the Pie and May Contain Lies, his Davos and World Bank addresses, and his TED talks have made him a go-to authority for boards and investors. Audiences leave with sharper tools to evaluate evidence, decode ESG, and align profit with purpose.

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    Alex Edmans biography

    Speaker Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School and one of the most influential voices on responsible business, sustainable investing, and the misinformation that distorts how we read research and headlines. A former Wharton-tenured professor and a Mercers’ School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College, he has been featured on the Thinkers50 Radar of next-generation management thinkers and named Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants.

    His academic work has shaped how regulators, boards, and investors think about purpose and performance. He has presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos, testified before the UK Parliament, briefed the World Bank Board of Directors as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series, and been appointed by the UK government to lead studies on share buybacks and executive pay. He sits on advisory councils for the World Economic Forum, Royal London Asset Management, and Novo Nordisk, and is a Non-Executive Director of The Investor Forum.

    From Grow the Pie to May Contain Lies

    Alex’s first book, Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit, was named a Financial Times Best Business Book of 2020 and won the FT award for Excellence in Sustainable Finance Education. His latest, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases, published by Penguin Random House and the University of California Press, is a bestselling guide to spotting bad evidence in business, media, and policy. His TED talks, including What to Trust in a Post-Truth World and The Pie-Growing Mindset, have together collected millions of views, and his commentary appears regularly in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review.

    As a speaker, Alex Edmans turns dense academic research into actionable insight, equal parts rigorous and entertaining. He helps executives, board directors, and investors cut through the noise around ESG, evaluate evidence properly, and design companies that can deliver returns and a wider social contribution at the same time. He is a regular feature on global finance stages.

    Alex Edmans Speaking Videos

    Alex Edmans - The social responsibility of business
    Alex Edmans - What to trust in a "post-truth" world

    Alex Edmans Speaking Topics

    Companies that focus only on profit ultimately deliver less of it. Drawing on his FT Best Business Book of 2020, Alex Edmans presents the evidence behind purposeful business: how prioritizing employees, customers, and communities can create more value for everyone, including shareholders, over the long run. He gives leaders a practical framework for redesigning strategy, capital allocation, and incentives so that purpose becomes a source of competitive advantage rather than a CSR talking point.

    After years of hype and backlash, ESG investing is being rebuilt on tougher evidence. Alex Edmans separates what works from what doesn't: which factors actually drive long-term returns, which are window dressing, and how asset owners and corporate boards should think about climate, governance, and social impact in the next decade. The talk is grounded in his peer-reviewed research and his work with central banks, regulators, and major asset managers.

    From cherry-picked statistics to viral stories, leaders are flooded with information that looks like proof but isn't. Drawing on his bestselling book May Contain Lies, Alex Edmans shows audiences how to tell the difference between a claim, a fact, data, evidence, and proof, and how to inoculate themselves against confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and statistical sleight-of-hand. Boards, investors, and senior teams come away with practical tools to make better decisions in a noisy information environment.

    Alex Edmans' Wall Street Journal-cited research shows that companies whose employees are genuinely engaged outperform on stock returns over the long term. In this keynote he sets out what actually moves the needle on engagement, why diversity, equity, and inclusion matter for performance and not only fairness, and how leaders should redesign culture, voice, and incentives so that human capital becomes a durable source of corporate value.

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    FAQs on Booking Alex Edmans

    Alex Edmans is the rare professor who is equally credible in a Cambridge seminar and on a Davos panel. As a tenured finance scholar at London Business School with prior tenure at Wharton, he has spent two decades producing peer-reviewed research that boards and investors actually use, including the studies behind Grow the Pie and May Contain Lies. On stage he is sharp, funny, and refreshingly free of jargon, which makes him a favorite of CFOs, sustainability committees, and investor audiences who are tired of generic ESG talking points. Book Alex Edmans through Aurum Speakers Bureau to bring rigorous, evidence-based insight to your next event.

    Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School and one of the leading academic voices on purposeful business, responsible investing, and the misinformation that distorts business decision-making. He was tenured at Wharton before joining LBS and has been named Professor of the Year by Poets & Quants and featured on the Thinkers50 Radar. He has presented to the World Economic Forum, testified before the UK Parliament, addressed the World Bank Board of Directors, and been appointed by the UK government to lead studies on share buybacks and executive pay.

    Alex Edmans is the author of two influential books. Grow the Pie: How Great Companies Deliver Both Purpose and Profit, published by Cambridge University Press, was named a Financial Times Best Business Book of 2020 and won the FT award for Excellence in Sustainable Finance Education. His second book, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases, was published in 2024 by Penguin Random House and the University of California Press and became an Amazon category bestseller; it teaches readers how to evaluate the evidence behind the headlines, studies, and statistics that drive business and policy decisions.

    Alex Edmans is booked by asset managers, banks, pension funds, sustainability and ESG conferences, board retreats, executive education programs, and Fortune 500 leadership offsites. He is equally effective opening a major investing summit, leading a closed-door board session on responsible business, or facilitating a senior-executive workshop on evidence-based decision making. Contact Aurum Speakers Bureau to check his availability and bring Alex Edmans to your next event.

    Aurum Speakers Bureau can help you book Alex Edmans as a speaker for your next event, conference, or board meeting. Simply fill out our contact form to inquire about Alex Edmans's availability for a speaking engagement. One of our booking agents will respond to your request immediately and contact the speaker to let them know you want to hire them. We will assist you with obtaining speaking fees, booking information, and confirming availability for Alex Edmans or any other top keynote speaker or celebrity of your choice.

    Alex Edmans speaking fees are determined by several factors, including the event's date, whether it's a virtual or in-person event, the duration, format, preparation required for their speech, and more. The same applies to the cost to hire any other top expert speakers and celebrities. The Speaker Fee Range listed on our website is simply a guideline and is subject to change without notice. If you would like to hire Alex Edmans to deliver a keynote speech for your event, please fill out the contact form or email us at info@aurumbureau.com with as much detail as possible. One of our experienced agents will get in touch with you and let you know exactly how much it will cost to book Alex Edmans.

    We only work with Alex Edmans on paid speaking engagements. Aurum Speakers Bureau can assist you in booking Alex Edmans and will handle all negotiations, contracts, and logistics associated with having Alex Edmans speak at your event. We will be your sole point of contact throughout the process. Get in touch with Aurum Speakers Bureau today, and we will reach out to any motivational speaker or celebrity you want to enquire about speaking at your event. If you wish to contact Alex Edmans for any other reason, we will be unable to assist you as we are not authorized to provide personal contact information.

    Yes, Alex Edmans is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book Alex Edmans for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.