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.

Helena Haapio is a Contract Strategist at Lexpert, Professor of Practice at University of Lapland and an Associate Professor of Business Law at University of Vaasa.

She is a pioneer of Proactive Law and Contract Design, a lawyer on a mission: a practitioner by day and a researcher, author, and editor by night. Her research focuses on merging proactive legal thinking with design: helping people and businesses use contracts and law proactively to achieve better business and societal results, balance risk with reward, and prevent unnecessary problems. She has devoted her life to improving contracts, especially for people who lack legal training: engineers, business and project managers, entrepreneurs who encounter contracts on a daily basis. Together with information designers and colleagues she has explored new contract genres and designs. She co-authored with Prof. George Siedel Proactive Law for Managers (Gower 2011) and recently co-edited two books for Edward Elgar, one on Legal Design and the other on Contract Design.

Proactive Law for Managers: https://www.routledge.com/Proactive-Law-for-Managers-A-Hidden-Source-of-Competitive-Advantage/Siedel-Haapio/p/book/9781409401001

Legal Design book: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/legal-design-9781839107252.html

Contract Design book: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/research-handbook-on-contract-design-9781839102271.html

Hal recently retired from British Telecommunications as its Chief Counsel in the Americas. He is now consulting, and we are happy that he is now associated with World CC in support of our Contracting Principles and in other Speed to Contract endeavors.