Lance Knobel has had a varied, eclectic international career at the intersection of business, geopolitics and technology. He started Berkeley’s hyperlocal site, Berkeleyside, in 2009. He curated and ran the program for the inaugural New York Forum in 2010 and is leading the work on NYF11. His blog, Davos Newbies, has been running since 1999. He was Managing Director of Kao & Company, a San Francisco-based advisory firm that concentrates on issues surrounding innovation and organizational transformation. Prior to his work with Kao & Company, Lance was a founder of Q Network, a start-up that developed a new model of high-level strategic consulting.

In 2001-02, he was Adviser, Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, London, Tony Blair’s Downing Street think tank that examined medium- and long-range strategic issues. Lance was involved in work on science and technology policy, energy security and speculative work examining truly long-range challenges for the UK.

In 2000-01, he was Managing Director of Vesta Capital Partners, a London-based venture capital firm focused on mobile and wireless technology start-ups.

From 1992-2000 he was Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director, World Link, the magazine of the World Economic Forum. In that role, he directed coverage of a bewildering range of issues: new technology, economic transformation, management thinking, global investment trends. Lance’s particular expertise was in examining the intersection of technology and geopolitics. In addition to his responsibilities forWorld Link, in 1999-2000 he was Director of the Programme of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos. In that capacity, he was in charge of deciding the topics, design and speakers for over 300 sessions in Davos.

Prior to his work with the World Economic Forum, Lance was Editor-in-Chief of Management Today, the leading business magazine in Britain. He made the leap to business journalism after starting his career as an editor of architecture and design magazines. He was an Assistant Editor of The Architectural Review and was founder and Editor of Designers’ Journal in Britain. He published four books on architecture and design, including The Faber Guide to Twentieth Century Architecture.

An American citizen, he lived in the UK for over 25 years until his 2005 move back to the US. He has degrees from Princeton University and Oxford University.