Name: Charles Handy.

Age: 67.

Background: An economist by training, he worked with oil multinational Shell, later spending many years as a professor at the London Business School where he specialised in managerial philosophy. He describes himself as a social philosopher these days. He has written extensively on the changes which economics and technology have brought to the workplace and people's lives in general. Previously published works include: The Hungry Spirit, The Empty Raincoat, The Age of Unreason, Gods of Management and Understanding Organisations.

Family: Married to Elizabeth, a portrait photographer who took the photographs for his new book, The New Alchemists, he has two grown up children.

Interests: Cooking, talking with friends. His next book will be called Food for Talk.

Why is he in the news?: He will address Forfas organised conference on October 21st in Dublin on managing change. Part of conference will be devoted to the impact of technology.