Coffee with the Economists 2026

Julian Jessop is an independent economist with nearly four decades of experience gained in the public sector, the City and consultancy, including stints at HM Treasury, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, and Capital Economics. He now works mainly with investment committees and with thinktanks, notably the Institute of Economic Affairs, and is a regular commentator in the media. Julian is also well known around both Westminster and Whitehall. He has a First Class degree in Economics from Cambridge University and further qualifications in both economics and law.

Freya has been Chief Economist since June 2022 and was formerly Head of Asia at Pantheon Macro. Freya started her career in Hong Kong with Lombard Street Research, holds a Masters in Economics from the LSE and is fluent in Chinese. Freya’s approach blends big picture analysis with granular forecasting. In April 2025, Freya made a bold prediction in the days after Liberation Day of "**No major bear market or recession. **Trump would back off tariff rates that risked a sustained bear market, but the dollar standard era was ending." She called dollar weakness in the short term but not an immediate end to its reserve currency status.

David Marsh is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of OMFIF. Before starting at OMFIF in late 2009, he worked for City merchant bank Robert Fleming, corporate finance boutique Hawkpoint, German management consultancy Droege and London investment firm London & Oxford. Marsh took over the chairmanship from John Plender in January 2018 having been Managing Director since 2014. He reverted to an executive role after John Orchard stepped down in October 2024 following five years as Chief Executive Officer. Marsh is a visiting Professor at Sheffield University and King’s College London. He is former co-founder, chairman and deputy chairman of the German-British Forum. He was made Commander of the British Empire in 2000 and was awarded the German Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz) in 2003. Marsh has written six books on politics and economics, mainly on Germany and Europe. His seventh book, _[Can Europe Survive? The Story of a Continent in a Fractured World](https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300273007/can-europe-survive/)_, will be published by Yale University Press in autumn 2025.