Hamish McRae is associate editor of The Independent newspaper in London and chief economic commentator for The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. He is author, amongst other books, of 'The World in 2020' (HarperCollins 1994, Harvard Business School Press 1995), which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. His new book 'What Works Success in Stressful Times' was published by HarperPress in January 2010.

As an economic journalist, he was editor of 'Euromoney' and financial editor of 'The Guardian' before moving to 'The Independent'. His most recent awards are Best Communicator in the 2007 Business Journalist of the Year Awards; Business and Finance Journalist of the Year in the 2006 British Press Awards; and the David Watt Prize for political and economic journalism in 2005. He has a masters degree in economics and political science from Trinity College, Dublin.

He is married to Frances Cairncross, rector of Exeter College, Oxford. They have two grown-up daughters.