Peter Wilson-Smith is founder and CEO of Meritus Consultants, a strategic communications consultancy. He has worked extensively in the financial sector as well as advising individuals, companies and educational establishments. He was awarded the 2017 Outstanding Contribution to City PR and Communications Award from the UK Public Relations and Communications Association. Before Meritus, he spent a decade at a leading public affairs consultancy after a career in journalism and publishing. He was one of the founders and editor-in-chief of Financial News and spent five years at the BBC on The Money Programme and BBC TV and Radio news. Peter was business editor of The Independent on Sunday and a financial and banking editor on The Independent, Daily Telegraph and The Times. Educated at St Catherine's College, Oxford with an MA in English literature, Peter is on the governing council of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation and chairman of the Oxford School of Drama. He was a trustee and member of the investment committee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation until 2015 has been a director of the Salzburg Global Seminar since 2016.