Andreas Carleton-Smith

Chief Executive Officer - Middle East & North Africa at Control Risks

Speaker

Andreas Carleton-Smith joined Control Risks in 1997 in Washington DC. In 2002, he was appointed President and CEO of Control Risks Group LLC, a position in which he was responsible for the company’s business throughout North America. He was appointed to the main board of Control Risks in 2006 and now serves as the CEO for Control Risks in the Middle East and North Africa.

Highlights of Andreas’s experience include:

• Providing advice to the Indian and British governments on a security issue in Kashmir. Several foreign tourists had been kidnapped by Islamist militants while trekking in the Himalayas.
• Advising the Egyptian government on airport security procedures after a high profile terrorist attack, recommending country-wide programmes for improvement, and regularly briefing the media and Egyptian Ministers for aviation and tourism.
• Advising the majority shareholder of a mining and exploration company in Sierra Leone. The civil war had prevented operations. Andreas established a public relations and communications strategy with the governments of Sierra Leone and the Republic of South Africa to assist in peace talks with rebels and the exiled government.
• Providing advice to a major US hotel chain on the illegal detention of its CFO in Syria, debriefing the victim once he was released, and establishing protocols to mitigate the risks of a repeat occurrence.
• Advising a major food manufacturer on a variety of security and integrity issues. The multi-national company faced a significant and enduring class action lawsuit, extortive threats from insurgents and was under intense scrutiny for child labour issues.
• Assisting a multi-national US construction and engineering firm to develop a market entry strategy for Iraq and implementing comprehensive security procedures in Kirkuk, Basra and Baghdad.
• Providing expert advice to the director and producers of a major Hollywood action movie called Proof of Life.

Andreas previously spent ten years as a commissioned officer in the British Army. During the last three years of service, he was active duty with the Special Air Service, commanding elements of the UK’s counterterrorism team. At an investiture in Buckingham Palace, he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry behind the lines in the former Republic of Yugoslavia.

Andreas has appeared on Bloomberg News, CNBC, CNN and CBS and has been interviewed for the Financial Times and other media outlets. Andreas has given numerous keynote speeches on geopolitics and its impact on business.