About us

He previously worked as a journalist and television producer for ITV, BBC, and CBC, creating award-winning documentaries in war zones around the world. He also led Strategic Communications campaigns for the Labour Party and Amnesty International, and co-produced the globally viewed Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute.

Dr Bolt graduated from the University of Oxford, and earned his PhD from King’s College London. Following which, he served as a Reader in Strategic Communications supervising a wide range of impactful research, and as Director of the King’s Centre for Strategic Communications (KCSC).

His publications, including the award-winning The Violent Image, explore the role of communications in conflict and politics. With ongoing roles advising NATO and the UK government, he continues to shape global Strategic Communications while directing advanced programmes for communications professionals to the governments of Japan and the Philippines.

He is a shareholder and board director of the London Theatre Company and sits on the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board. He was Chair and majority shareholder of The Office Group, the leading flexible office company from 2010 until its sale to Blackstone in 2017. He still retains a separate significant flexible office portfolio.

In the charity sector, he became Chair of the Royal Opera House in 2022, having served as a Trustee since 2015. He is also Deputy Chair of Community Security Trust and a Trustee of UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation.

In addition, he is Vice-President of King’s Trust International (formerly Prince’s Trust International), having been its Chair from 2015 to 2021. He was also Chair of Prince’s Trust from 2015 to 2018, having joined the charity’s Council (Board) in 2007.

He served on the Board of the National Theatre for over nine years and one of its theatres, the Cottesloe, was renamed the Dorfman Theatre in 2014. He was a Trustee of BAFTA from 2017 – 2023, a Governor of St Paul’s School from 2005 – 2016, a Trustee of Royal Academy Trust from 2014 – 2022, Chairman of The Roundhouse from 2007 – 2010 and a Trustee of JW3 from 2007 – 2019.

He is Vice-President of six of the charities with which he has been previously involved (King’s Trust International, JW3, St Paul’s School, The Roundhouse, West London Synagogue and Jewish Care).

In 2022 he was awarded a CVO in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. In 2018, he was awarded a Knighthood for services to Philanthropy and the Arts, following his appointment as CBE in 2008 for services to Business and Charity. In 2011, he was awarded The Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy.

He is Honorary Colonel of the Third Battalion of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment, a Freeman of the City of London, a member of the Mercers’ Company, an Honorary Fellow of St Peter’s College, Oxford, and an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn.

He is a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, White’s and The Garrick Club. He is married with three children and five grandchildren.

Prior to joining Sympodium, Dr Michlin-Shapir was a Lecturer of Strategic Communications in the War Studies Department at King’s College London. She is the author of Fluid Russia: Between the Global and the National in the Post‑Soviet Era (Cornell University Press, 2021), which investigates globalisation’s impact on Russian identity. Most recently, she co-authored Deciphering Russian Enigma: In 15 Questions and 30 Answers (Palgrave Macmillan, June 2024).

Dr Michlin-Shapir previously served at Israel’s National Security Council in the Prime Minister’s Office, advising on Russia‑related strategic policy. She has also held senior research roles at think tanks focused on Russian influence campaigns, information manipulation and hybrid threats across Europe and the Middle East.

She holds a BA from King’s College London, an MPhil in Russian and East European Studies from Oxford (St Antony’s College), and a PhD from Tel Aviv University on Russian national identity and globalisation.