Who We Are

Sir John serves as non-executive Co-Chair of SC Strategy. He draws on his experience to deliver personal perspectives and judgements on a wide range of issues affecting clients. Sir John was, from 2004-2009, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Prior to that, he was Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the Cabinet Office. Those appointments were the culmination of a 38-year career in the Intelligence Community. During his career, he served two tours in the Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation and also served in Nairobi and Paris, as well as several tours in London.

Sir John is a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), having served as its Vice-Chairman from 2016 – July 2021, and is co-Chair of the Global Advisory Council at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C.

Lord Alex Carlile is a leading lawyer with longstanding experience in issues of fraud, corruption, and international banking cases. With Sir John, he is non-executive Co-Chair of SC Strategy. He is also a noted criminal trial lawyer. He has been a Queen's Counsel - now King’s Counsel - since 1984. He sat for many years as a part-time judge, including sitting in the High Court of Justice and as a Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. From 1983-1997 he was a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons. Since 1999 he has been a Member of the House of Lords. From 2001-2011 he was the UK's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

Lord Carlile takes a particular interest in political risks matters and, since founding the company, has advised individuals and corporate entities from countries around the world. He draws on his legal and parliamentary expertise to deliver insights into these areas and, on occasion, serves as an expert witness on behalf of the company.

Will Jessett retired from the role of Strategy Director in the Ministry of Defence at the start of 2019, after 33 years of public service. He held a wide range of policy, planning and operational roles in Whitehall and served overseas in Namibia, Poland, Cyprus and the United States. He is a defence policy and strategy expert and has been directly involved in all the UK’s recent defence and security reviews. Since joining SC, he has advised a number of overseas governments and UK companies seeking to update their strategies and plans, successfully applying his approach to strategy development in the international and commercial sectors. He became Managing Director in August 2024.

Will is a visiting professor at King’s College, London, Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI and holds several other academic and think tank affiliations.

Rowley joined the company in 2015 and is a Director of the Company. Originally acting as the company’s sole researcher, he has since grown the company’s research capacity and in 2019 led the formation of the Strategy Development Group, an in-house analytical and project management team, of which he remains a member. He takes particular interest in matters related to international security, foreign investment screening, energy markets, cyber security, the Middle East and North Africa; and has spent time working in the region.

He has advised a range of clients over the years, including an overseas government, financial institutions, large corporates and SMEs, law firms and HNWIs. Much of his time is now focused on growing the company by strengthening existing relationships, identifying new business areas and building fresh partnerships.

Rowley is a graduate of Middle East Politics (MSc) from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, and History and Politics (BA Hons) from the University of Exeter.

Katie joined SC Strategy in April 2017 and is a Director of the Company. During her time at the company, she has worked on a wide variety of projects, including managing a long-running international investigation across multiple jurisdictions. Katie oversees our investigative projects, working closely with our clients, trusted partners and company Directors. She is also a member of the Strategy Development Group, carrying out frequent research tasks and geopolitical analysis, with a particular focus on the Middle East region.

Katie graduated from the University of Bristol with First Class Honours in Politics (BSc).

Alexander has over fifteen years’ experience working on international relations, conflict and diplomacy. He previously served, for seven years, with the UK Foreign Office (FCDO), specialising in policy, operational research and analytical roles on issues of international peace and security across the Middle East, Russia and China. He spent time as a Political Officer at the British Embassy in Beirut.

On leaving the FCDO, he formed his own consultancy, providing specialist analytical insight and open-source investigative training on international anti-corruption and conflict stabilisation for commercial organisations and UK government departments.

Since joining SC in 2019, he has led the company’s work synthesising policy implications of developments in international strategic competition, conflict, power projection, emerging risks and crises with relevance. As a Director of SC, he regularly provides counsel to leaders in the public and private sector.

Alexander holds a Master’s (with Distinction) in international relations and security studies from King’s College London and an undergraduate degree in Arabic & Persian from SOAS. He holds professional qualifications in all-source investigations. He is conversant in Arabic and French, and can read Russian.

Dan manages SC Strategy’s defence, national security and technology-related services. He became a Director of the Company in August 2024. He helps clients make better informed decisions by overcoming uncertainty caused both by technology and military developments, and by the politics of technology, defence and national security. He is an expert in defence policy, planning and programmes across different nations. Dan supports government and corporate clients defining strategies and plans, especially where responding to opportunities around emerging technologies. He is an integral part of SCS’ team advising clients on the management of risk from Government economic security screening regimes – with a focus on sensitive technologies and sectors.

Dan joined SC Strategy in August 2022 after 14 years in the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), where he gained a wealth of experience helping boards and senior leaders in Government formulate and set direction around technology, defence and national security matters. As a strategic planner he was involved in many of the major Defence review exercises since 2014. Dan played an important part in improving Ministry of Defence strategic planning on emerging technologies across several leadership roles. He co-founded both the Innovation and Research InSight Unit (IRIS), driving innovation in technology assessment, and the Defence AI and Autonomy Unit (DAU), a policy and strategy function. He led development of MOD’s initial strategy for Artificial Intelligence and of long-term priorities for MOD R&D. His final role was leading and growing an MOD team supporting ministers in screening foreign direct investment into emerging and high-tech sectors of the UK economy.

Clark has more than 40 years’ experience managing geopolitical risk and credit risk for corporate, financial and government clients around the world. Clark most recently served as both Global Head of Country Risk and Global Head of Climate Risk for Morgan Stanley. Previously, he was Global Manager of the Sovereign Risk Management & Advisory Group at Goldman Sachs. His advisory clients included the governments of China, South Korea, Qatar and Brazil, among others.

Clark began his career at the U.S. Federal Reserve Board in 1980 and then worked for Bankers Trust Company, Multinational Strategies, Inc., and his own consulting partnership Anderson, Blank & Bosworth, providing political risk analysis and long-term planning to both US and non-US multinationals.

Clark is a China specialist, having followed China closely since modernization began in 1978. He also has particular expertise in global energy issues. Anderson holds a Master in Public Affairs degree from Princeton University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Pomona College.

Sir Simon joined SC Strategy in 2024; he advises clients on the full range of geopolitical issues.

From 2019 to 2023 Simon was Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee and Adviser on Intelligence to successive British Prime Ministers. He briefed them, and the National Security Council, with strategic assessments of the full range of national security issues. Before that, Simon had a long career as a British diplomat including Ambassador to Greece, Ambassador to Iran, and NATO’s Senior Civilian Representative to Afghanistan. As the Foreign Office’s Political Director Simon supervised policy on the Middle East, Russia, Africa, South and Central Asia, the United Nations and other international institutions. During this period, he led the UK team at the prolonged E3+3 negotiations which resulted in the Iran Nuclear Agreement in July 2016.

Simon was Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies in 2018/19. He is currently a Visiting Professor at King’s College London, a Distinguished Fellow at RUSI and Non-Executive Chair of the UK Foreign Office’s commercial arm. Simon is a frequent media commentator on a wide range of geopolitical issues.

Sophie joined SC Strategy in May 2022 and serves as a Research Analyst for the company, conducting analysis on a variety of subjects. As a member of the Strategy Development Group, she has contributed to a range of research with a particular focus on geo-politics in the Middle East.

Sophie has a Philosophy and Literature (BA Hons) degree from the University of Warwick and successfully completed her post-graduate degree in Terrorism and Political Violence (MLitt) at the University of St. Andrews in August 2022.

Rory joined SC Strategy in 2024. Prior to joining SC, Rory was a consultant in the strategy division of KPMG. His work focused on providing strategic and operational advice in the defence and national security sectors. Previously, he also worked in the firm's accounting and finance division, and is a chartered accountant.

In addition to his work at SC, Rory is currently undertaking a part-time Master's in National Security Studies at King's College London.

The SDG is our in-house analytical and project management team, designed to define and respond to requirements swiftly. It has proven capability to approach and overcome complex analytical, investigative or operational challenges for clients. Whether deployed into organisations or operating remotely, the SDG aims to understand our clients’ needs and interests, and deliver effective results and independent advice, to support their decision-making around complex, confidential challenges.

The team includes former diplomats and public policy professionals, technologists, analysts and investigators, with expertise in strategy development, review and delivery, all-source intelligence gathering and investigations in multiple languages and jurisdictions, cybersecurity, and crisis management planning. When required, the SDG draws on our wider network of advisers and partners to scale up and tailor teams to meet a diverse range of requirements.

We retain a global network of senior consultants with experience in operational and leadership roles. This includes former government officials, geopolitical experts, cyber security and strategic communications specialists, technical advisers, investigators, and journalists, with subject matter expertise on global political and strategic issues. We also maintain strong working relationships with a range of professional services companies, which allow us to provide combined solutions that draw on a wide range of specialist expertise and skills.