Sir John Chipman

Sir John Chipman KCMG is a Senior Adviser to Centricus. He is also the Executive Chairman of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and an international adviser on geopolitical risk.

During his 30-year tenure as Director-General and Chief Executive of the IISS he guided the organisation to become the world’s premier institute providing facts and analysis on international security issues and made it an important strategic actor taking it to the centre of the international relations stage. He developed the IISS role as a convener of vital inter-governmental summits, including the Asia-Pacific IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, and the Middle East IISS Manama Dialogue.

He speaks regularly to business audiences on political risk, regional security, and global trends. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and opinion pieces. His article in the September 2016 Harvard Business Review entitled ‘Why Your Company Needs a Foreign Policy’ has been influential in alerting businesses to the need to treat geopolitical opportunity and risk at the Board level.

He has served on a variety of international advisory boards and has advised businesspersons and companies in the defence, private equity, asset management, telecommunications, commercial shipping, insurance, extractive mining, oil, and gas sectors, as well as advanced technology industries.

Sir John was appointed a Knight Commander of The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in HM The King’s Birthday Honours in June 2023 for ‘Services to International Peace and Security.’