An international, cross-industry career that has moved from corporate management to extensive research, advisory and capability development services to public, private and third sector organisations. Tim has lived and worked in the UK, France (3 years) and United States (20 years), building an impressive research and entrepreneurial record, with demonstrated commitment to delivering social benefit.

As Founder and President, World Commerce & Contracting (formerly International Association for Contract & Commercial Management), Tim has built a 72,000 member worldwide non-profit association which increasingly influences commercial policies and contracting practices in major corporations and governments. In September 2019, he was presented with the Financial Times ‘Market Shaper of the Year’ Award.

Tim was until recently Professor and Chair, International Commercial & Contract Management, University of Leeds, School of Law, where he taught and led development of inter-disciplinary commercial programs.

Prior to founding World Commerce & Contracting, Tim was on the Chairman’s staff at IBM Corporation and led the development of worldwide commercial processes and skills. His early career included management roles in banking, automotive and aerospace industries, where he led negotiations up to $1.5 billion in value. He has served in advisory roles for government departments in various countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan.

Stefania Passera, Contract Designer in Residence (World Commerce & Contracting), CEO (Passera Design)

Stefania Passera is a contract design and simplification expert based in Espoo, Finland. She runs her one-woman consultancy Passera Design, and is Contract Designer in Residence at World Commerce & Contracting. In these roles, she helps organizations transform their contracts and policies into user-friendly, effective tools that work better for business.

Stefania is an all-rounder, backing her design expertise with a solid academic background. She has served as Assistant Professor at the University of Vaasa, Department of Business Law, and has earned her doctoral degree from Aalto University School of Science. She has guest lectured at prestigious institutions such as Stanford University, Bucerius Center on the Legal Profession, KU Leuven, UC Louvain, European University Institute, ESADE Law School, and California Western School of Law.

She is a co-founder of the Legal Design Alliance, a co-author of the Legal Design Manifesto, and the creator of Legal Design Jam. In 2020, she has received the European Women of Legal Tech Award.

Paula is a lawyer with over 20 years’ experience of working in industry, having spent 13 of those years at IBM specialising in “as a Service” transactions, heading up the Cloud and Solutions legal team across Europe. In 2018, Paula left full-time lawyering to work with innovative organisations on the business side, initially joining late-stage start-up Globality as part of the legal services senior management team and then joining WorldCC as its Chief Legal Innovation Officer.

Today, Paula has her own consultancy PaLiDa Ltd and works as a legal innovation advisor to a broad base of clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to start-ups. She also works closely with Passera Designs on contract simplification and design.

Paula is passionate about better contracts and empathetic leadership.