Edward Bickham advises mining companies on license to operate, development and investor due diligence issues. He is a Senior Adviser to the World Gold Council on responsible gold mining and ESG issues and Principal Senior Adviser to Critical Resource.
He has been closely involved in the development and governance of multi-stakeholder partnerships designed to improve development outcomes from the extractive industries including the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Board Member 2005-13); the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights; and the OECD Forum for Due Diligence and Responsible Sourcing.
He is a Trustee and Chair of the Programme and Policy Committee of development charity, Care International UK and between 2014 and 2019 served as Chairman of the Institute of Business Ethics. Since 2013 he has served on the Steering Board for the UK National Contact Point for the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Companies.
He was Executive Vice President, External Affairs for global mining group, Anglo American plc, 2000-2009. In this role he was responsible for stakeholder engagement and corporate reputation; public policy, political risk; social development; and corporate ethics,and the promotion of knowledge-sharing and collaborative working;. During this period, Anglo American won several awards for its sustainability programmes including for the creation of new supplier companies in mining communities; and for the creation of the Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT) process to improve development outcomes from mining investments.
Edward was Managing Director, Public and Corporate Affairs (and later Deputy Chairman and Director of Strategy), Hill and Knowlton UK from 1993 until 2000. From 1991-93 he served as Special Adviser to the Foreign Secretary (Rt Hon Douglas Hurd) during the first Gulf War, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the start of the transition to democracy in South Africa and the negotiation of the Maastricht Treaty. This role followed periods as Special Adviser to the Home Secretary (1985 – 88) and to successive Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland (1983-85).
He graduated in Law from St John’s College, Oxford in 1977. He was a Visiting Fellow of Cranfield School of Management 2011-19 and his case study on the development of the Conflict-Free Gold Standard was jointly published in November 2017 by Cranfield and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard in 2017. He is a Board Member of the International Cyanide Management Institute and a member of the Advisory Council of Transparency International UK.
Edward joined the board of Levin Sources in June 2021. He says of his appointment:
"I am delighted to take on this role with Levin Sources. I am a long-term admirer of their work and of the contribution that the organisation has made to innovation and the development of good practices in areas like responsible sourcing and artisanal mining."
