The guiding theme of Lavan’s career is embracing the fact that some of the best decisions are made based on interesting and complex data. After completing a first degree, Masters, and PhD in Economics, Lavan worked as a Bank of England Economist for 16 years in a variety of roles, including as an adviser to the MPC. He became a world expert in monetary policy modelling and forecasting.
Lavan was also fortunate to have the opportunity to work with several central banks, translating the debates of senior policy makers into analytical models and processes, all to provide compelling evidence. He found that sharing these good practices led to improvements in countries as diverse as Malawi, Kyrgyzstan, Colombia and Chechia.
He left the Bank of England to become a Senior Researcher in the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies where he developed a passion for commodity economics and discovered that well-defined methodology, which is explained transparently, can successfully navigate even highly uncertain commodity markets.
A natural next step was joining CRU, where methodology and transparency are valued and continually invested in. Lavan is now in charge of Product and Commodity Data Management functions within CRU’s Technology team. The purpose of the team is to identify what our clients need, create data services that solve those problems, and enable our experts to test the relevance of that data through narrative and advice. Data is increasingly sought-after and the technology to manage it is rapidly improving – Lavan’s focus is bringing this very benefit to our clients.
Education:
- BA Hons, Economics, Trinity College, University of Cambridge
- MSC, Economics, University of Warwick
- PhD, Economics, European University Institute, Florence
Additional Personal Interests:
- STEM volunteer for Maths
