Matt Cavanagh

Matt Cavanagh has over twenty years of experience at senior level in politics, policy and public affairs, including seven years as a senior adviser to the UK Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers.

From 2013 to 2023 he led global public affairs for Prudential Plc, Britain’s largest insurance group, covering the UK, Europe, US, Asia and Africa, and working closely with the CEO, Chair and Board. He was a founding member of Prudential’s AI Ethics working group, and served for over five years on the boards of Asia House and the UK-ASEAN Business Council, as well as attending the ABI Board, chairing TheCityUK’s ASEAN group, and chairing the Asia-Pacific insurance group of the Institute of International Finance. Before joining Prudential, he was head of public affairs at the John Lewis Partnership, where he led a successful campaign to change the tax rules covering JLP and other employee-owned companies.

From 2003-2010 he worked as a special adviser to a series of Labour ministers, starting with David Blunkett at the Home Office, before joining the Treasury in 2005 as an adviser to Gordon Brown. He moved to the Ministry of Defence in 2006 to work for the Defence Secretary, Des Browne, then returned to work for Gordon Brown in the Prime Minister’s office from 2007 to the election in 2010.

He also served for a year as an associate director of the think-tank IPPR, where he gained extensive media experience; and worked for three years at the Boston Consulting Group after starting his career as a lecturer in philosophy at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, specialising in ethics and political theory.