Geoff Mulgan is a Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at UCL. Geoff served as Chief Executive of Nesta from 2011-2019. Under his leadership it moved out of the public sector to become an independent foundation; greatly expanded its work, partly through creating new units, centres and funds in fields ranging from evidence and impact investment to challenge prizes and skills; and complemented its work in the UK with work in dozens of countries around the world.
Between 1997 and 2004 Geoff had various roles in the UK government including director of the Government's Strategy Unit and head of policy in the Prime Minister's office. From 2004 to 2011 Geoff was the first Chief Executive of The Young Foundation. He was the first director of the think-tank Demos; Chief Adviser to Gordon Brown MP and reporter on BBC TV and radio. He has been a visiting professor at LSE and Melbourne University and is currently a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University.
Geoff is known as a pioneer of fields including policies for the creative economy, social innovation, anticipatory regulation and the use of evidence by governments. His recent work includes applying collective intelligence ideas to the everyday work of government, exploring how best to amplify social imagination and a new project on wisdom. Geoff has written many books including 'Big Mind' on collective intelligence (Princeton University Press), 'The Art of Public Strategy' (Oxford University Press) and 'Good and Bad Power' (Penguin).