Mats Persson

Mats Persson is a senior Partner in EY Parthenon, and one of the firm’s leading advisors on how CEOs, CFOs and boards can enhance and protect value during times of macro uncertainty, with a particular focus on aligning cost efficiency, resilience and sustainability.

He has advised a range of global businesses on four continents across demand and scenario planning, macro and business economics, policy, energy transition, global supply chain disruption and growth strategies. Mats has also advised a number of scale-up business with focus on the energy transition, in addition to having designed and closed public-private deals involving over $70bn in deployed capital.

Mats held roles in the UK Government during one of the most tumultuous periods in UK politics for several decades. He was Special Advisor to the UK Prime Minister in 2015-16, based in 10 Downing Street, and a senior member of the PM’s EU negotiation team. He was the Chief of Staff to the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, 2019-2020, leading on economic, fiscal and trade policy. He left the UK Government with Javid due to disagreements with Boris Johnson and his chief advisor.

Prior to his roles at EY and the UK Government, he was the chief executive of Open Europe, a think-tank focussed on EU, eurozone, economic and trade policy with offices in London, Brussels and Berlin. During this time, he was also a leading commentator on European affairs with daily articles and broadcast appearances in UK and international media; and appeared as an expert witness in front of over 30 parliamentary committees. In 2015, the news site Politico named him one of the 28 most influential opinion-formers in European politics. Early in his career, he worked as an analyst at a political consulting firm in Washington DC.

During his career, Mats has written extensively on a range of topics including inflation, cost of capital, fiscal policy, economic regeneration, monetary policy, international relations and trade, EU regulation, the EU budget, and the rise of populism in Europe and US.

In 2017, Mats chronicled his experience from British and international politics, and from being a Swedish native working in Downing Street, in P1 Sommar – the flagship Swedish radio programme.

Mats was born in Bankeryd, Sweden. He holds a Bachelor degree from Liberty University in Virginia, US, where he attended on a basketball scholarship, and a masters degree from the London School of Economics.