About

Global Government Forum is a publishing, events and research business that helps senior civil servants around the world to meet global challenges by building their expertise, knowledge and connections.

Our Goals

Global Government Forum exists to help leaders across national public sector organisations to learn from the work of their peers overseas, and to build links with fellow civil servants in other countries. We help people identify the tools and innovations to overcome the challenges they face, and provide an environment where they can exchange ideas about what works – and what doesn’t.

Governments have always had to face new challenges, but in the modern world these are faster-moving and more globalised than ever before. Around the world, civil servants are working – to pick a few examples – to meet rising citizen expectations; to realise the potential of digital services; to address demographic threats to public health and government finances; to strengthen fiscal management in parlous economic times.

Many of the solutions demand partnerships with other nations, and stronger relationships between the public, private and social sectors; and all of them require civil servants to develop new skills in topics such as digital services, financial and data management, public engagement, policy making, staff development and organisational reform.

But if the challenges are ever more global, so are the solutions – we’re increasingly able to communicate across national borders, and to find answers overseas to the questions being asked by impatient ministers and electorates. We at Global Government Forum help foster that conversation among senior public servants and industry experts by publishing impartial and independent news and interviews, organising events for the world’s top civil servants, and conducting and disseminating research.

Through our publishing, events and research services, Global Government Forum works to bring these communities together in a safe and trusted environment – helping people to realise their goals, to learn from one another and, ultimately, to better serve their political leaders and their populations.

What we do

We conduct research into the issues facing civil servants, using a combination of data collation, interviews with senior officials, and online surveys testing the opinions of our global, 220,000-strong audience. Our research reports typically include detailed analysis of the findings, and often involve discussing those findings with top civil servants to gather their reactions and opinions. You can read more about this work on our Research page.

We run events bringing together civil servants from a range of countries. Some provide small-group, informal discussions, where senior officials can share their ideas and experiences with their peers and selected experts from the worlds of academia and business. Others adopt a conference format, presenting panel debates for a wider audience of public sector and media delegates. Our current portfolio includes round table events for those leading civil service development and reform, and for the heads of finance departments; and conferences serving those involved in promoting innovation in government – see our Conferences page and Webinar page for more details.

We publish www.globalgovernmentforum.com – an independent editorial website carrying news, features and interviews. Our News articles keep you up to date with developments in organisational management, public service delivery and reform; our Features examine innovative policies, emerging threats and international comparisons; and our Interviews with top civil service leaders explore how they’re meeting the challenges facing officials around the world. For more info see our Digital Publishing page.

Who we are

The Global Government Forum team have extensive experience in working with, and providing services for, senior civil servants. We built our skills producing events, research and editorial aimed at the UK civil service, helping officials to communicate across organisational and professional boundaries. But these days, the best ideas and innovations are as likely to be found in other countries as in other departments; and so Global Government Forum was launched to help officials to communicate across national boundaries.

Directors


Kevin Sorkin

Kevin is the Founder and Director of Global Government Forum and the wider portfolio of events and research. He has over 20 years of media management experience, and in the UK has founded the magazine and website Civil Service World, the Civil Service Awards and the events series Civil Service Live, plus programmes of research, roundtables and conferences.

Launching www.globalgovernmentforum.com in 2014, he revived the Global Government Summit – an event for top civil service leaders, launched by Kevin in 2011; brought together civil service finance department heads at the first Global Government Finance Summit in 2015; and ran the inaugural Global Government Digital Summit in 2019.

Kevin is expert in building strong relationships across the government and private sectors, and in understanding the complexities, challenges and interests of governments across the world.

[email protected]

Sue Torka

Sue is Global Government Forum’s Director and is responsible for developing growth strategies and leading the events and commercial team. Prior to this Sue held senior Director roles at Guardian Labs, The Guardian News & Media’s content marketing studio, Tes Global Group and Dods Group plc where she focused on building partnerships with progressive brands to drive commercial growth and innovative campaigns. Sue holds a B.A. in International Business from Cardiff University and a postgraduate diploma in Management from Birkbeck, University of London.

[email protected]

Editorial and Content


Richard Johnstone

Richard is the Executive Editor of Global Government Forum, where he helps to produce editorial analysis and insight for the title’s audience of public servants around the world. Before joining GGF, he spent nearly five years at UK-based title Civil Service World, latterly as Acting Editor, and has worked in public policy journalism throughout his career.

[email protected]

Siobhan Benita

Siobhan, Global Event and Webinar Chairperson, was a senior civil servant with over 15 years’ Whitehall experience, working across major delivery departments, including Transport, Environment, Health and Local Government. She had senior roles at the heart of Government in the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, including supporting the then Cabinet Secretary, Lord O’Donnell to lead work on Civil Service reform and strategy. Siobhan left the Civil Service to run as an independent candidate in the Mayor of London election. She subsequently joined her alma mater, Warwick University as Chief Strategy Officer of Warwick in London and Co-Director of the Warwick Policy Lab.

Kevin Cunnington

Kevin is an Expert Advisor for Global Government Forum.

Kevin was Director General of the International Government Service and Digital Envoy for the UK from August 2019, until April 2021. Prior to that, he was the Director General of the Government Digital Service from August 2016 to July 2019. Kevin left the UK Civil Service in April 2021.

Kevin has led a variety of large scale, and global, digital transformation programmes. He spent his early career in programming and IT consultancy. More recently he was the Global Head of Online for Vodafone Group and Business Transformation Group Director General at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Kevin now advises Global Government Forum, and leads the Global Government Digital Leaders’ Study.

Mia Hunt

Mia has been Editor of globalgovernmentforum.com since 2019. She is a journalist and editor with a background in covering commercial property, having been Market Reports and Supplements Editor at trade title Property Week and Deputy Editor of Shopping Centre magazine, now known as Retail Destination. She has also undertaken freelance work for several publications including the preview magazine of international trade show, MAPIC, and Tes Global (formerly the Times Educational Supplement) and has produced a white paper on energy efficiency in business for E.ON. Between 2014 and 2016, she was a member of the Revo Customer Experience Committee and an ACE Awards judge.

Mia graduated from Kingston University with a first-class degree in journalism and was part of the team that produced The River newspaper, which won Publication of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards in 2010.

[email protected]

Matt Ross

Matt Ross

Matt is the Contributing Editor of Global Government Forum, providing direction and support on topics, products and audience interests across GGF’s editorial, events and research operations.

He has been a journalist and editor since 1995, beginning in motoring and travel journalism – and combining the two in a 30-month, 30-country 4×4 expedition funded by magazine photo-journalism. Between 2002 and 2008 he was Features Editor of Haymarket news magazine Regeneration & Renewal, covering urban regeneration, economic growth and community development; and from 2008 to 2014 he was the Editor of UK magazine and website Civil Service World, then Editorial Director for Public Sector – both at political publishing house Dods.

[email protected]

Jack Aldane

Jack Aldane

Jack is Global Government Forum’s Senior Staff Writer and Community Co-ordinator, and is a journalist, cartoonist and podcaster.

After training in financial journalism at City University from 2013 until 2014, Jack worked at Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters, afterwards moving into editing magazines on global trade and development finance. Shortly after editing opinion writing for UnHerd, he joined the independent think tank ResPublica, where he led a media campaign to change the health and safety requirements around asbestos in UK public buildings.

As host and producer of The Booking Club podcast – a conversation series featuring prominent authors and commentators at their favourite restaurants – Jack engages today’s most distinguished thinkers on the biggest problems pertaining to ideology and power in the 21st century.

He graduated from Heythrop College London in 2009 with a BA in philosophy. He lived in China for three years where he worked as a freelance reporter.

[email protected]

Ian Hall

Ian Hall

Ian is Editor of Global Government Forum’s sister title Global Government Fintech, which launched in September 2020. He also writes for media including City AM and #DisruptionBanking. He is former UK Director for the pan-European media network Euractiv (2011-2018), Editor of Public Affairs News (2007-2011) and News Editor of PR Week (2000-2007). He was shortlisted for ‘Editor of the Year’ at the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) Awards in 2010. He began his career in Bulgaria at English-language weekly the Sofia Echo.

[email protected]

Events & webinars


Brett Alderton-Green

Brett is the Director of Event and Webinar Production for Global Government Forum. For well over a decade he has developed, planned and expertly orchestrated events engaging with high profile politicians and senior government officials from around the globe. Brett worked with Kevin Sorkin to launch the Civil Service Awards, Civil Service Live and the Global Government Summit.

A winner of ‘Event of the Year’ at the UK Media Awards, Brett has served a range of blue-chip corporate, public sector and charity sector clients to successfully develop strategies and plans to deliver change, influence outcomes and engage with stakeholders.

Brett is an active community organiser with The Community Brain and is a Director and Trustee for the charity Creative Youth, organisers of Fuse International.

[email protected]

Katie Shopland

Katie, Head of Event Delivery and Operations, has worked in publishing and media events for more than 10 years and during that time has produced conferences, awards, exhibitions, roundtables, for brands including AV Magazine, Electronics Weekly, Nurse Standard (Royal College of Nursing), edie, Utility Week and more. Most recently, Katie worked on delivering first-class events for Property Week and, in 2020, was part of the team that achieved ‘Business Brand of the Year’ at the prestigious PPA Awards.

[email protected]

Anne Simonsen

Anne is an Assistant Event Producer for Global Government Forum where she supports the planning, organisation and delivery of Global Government Forum’s in-person and virtual events. As part of this, she engages with external stakeholders, including senior public servants from around globe. She worked closely with the editorial team’s Ian Hall to organise the inaugural Global Government Fintech Lab, which took place in Tallinn, Estonia, in May 2022. She also played a key role in organising the inaugural AccelerateGOV in Ottawa, Canada in October 2022.

Anne is originally from Denmark and is fluent in Danish and English. She holds a BA in politics, philosophy and economics from the University of Manchester and an MA in legal and political theory from UCL where she specialised in inter-governmental cooperation.

[email protected]

Raquel De Luis Martínez

As a Global Webinar Producer, Raquel supports the Events & Webinars team to plan, organise and deliver Global Government Forum’s online and in-person events.

Raquel is originally from Spain and is fluent in Spanish, Catalan, and English. She holds a politics and international relations degree from Queen Mary University of London, and has a degree in criminology from the Universidad de Alicante.

[email protected]

Commercial


George O'Grady

George O’Grady

George is Global Government Forum’s Commercial Director and is responsible driving growth and leading the commercial team. Prior to this, George held a number of commercial roles within the shipping and logistics industry. He holds a B.A in Business Studies from De Montfort University Leicester.

[email protected]

Melissa Helmer

Melissa Helmer

As a Global Sales Executive with Global Government Forum, Melissa harnesses her strong account management skills to work with small, medium and large private businesses from around the world, helping them develop their business relationships with the public sector.

With over 20 years’ experience in media, Melissa previously worked on titles published by EMAP, the BBC and The Stationery Office (TSO), as well as working with major media outlets such as WH Smiths and Waterstones around the UK and Ireland.

[email protected]

Simon Fox

As a Global Sales Executive with Global Government Forum, Simon works with private sector organisations to deliver their message to decisionmakers in governments across the world and to showcase their services to civil service leaders. Simon works closely with companies to enable them to raise their profile further and to properly engage with key decisionmakers in the public sector.

[email protected]

Earle Cerbo

As a Business Development Representative at Global Government Forum, Earle supports the private sector in strengthening their relationships with government through knowledge-sharing and networking.

Earle has studied International Business and Japanese at the University of Leeds and spent a year studying Japanese at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.

[email protected]

Research


Chris Punch

Chris Punch

Our Global Research Director, Chris, has over 15 years of research and analysis experience – 12 of them spent examining government operations and the relationship with private sector suppliers. Chris has designed and delivered strategic and tactical research for global organisations including Lockheed Martin, EY, Capita, HP, IBM, techUK and BT Global Services.

Highly skilled in gathering, processing and analysing international data and in conducting quantitative research in civil service-related issues, Chris also has an MA in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London.

[email protected]

Kate Onslow

As our Senior Research Executive, Kate coordinates and supports our data and research programmes.

She specialises in engaging with external stakeholders in national government departments and agencies, global institutions and national and international corporations to engage this community in our research initiatives.

She holds a History and Politics Degree from Trinity College Dublin and has completed an MSc in International Relations at the LSE.

[email protected]

Training


David Leakey

As Delegate Manager, David is responsible for keeping senior civil servants worldwide up to date with Global Government Forum’s wide range of open and in-house training courses and assisting them with the registration process. David brings to the role over 20 years’ sales experience, much of which has involved working closely with UK government departments and agencies as well as local government and the NHS.

[email protected]

Simon Gillon

Simon Gillon

Simon works as Global Government Forum’s Training and Learning & Development Consultant. He has worked in senior management roles in the field of professional development for almost 20 years, providing training and consultancy for public servants from all around the world. He is an expert in policy, political affairs, public sector reform, international relations, and geo-politics. He has also held editorial roles for political affairs media including reference books, websites and magazines.

Simon studied at Master’s level at Oxford University, and has written books on subjects as diverse as music and identity, art, and comparative mythology.

[email protected]


Contact us

For general and commercial enquiries email [email protected] or call +44 20 7031 8499.

For editorial enquiries and news desk, email Mia Hunt at [email protected] or call +44 20 7031 8500.

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