Before establishing Stirling Assynt Karl was Head of Global Security and Fraud Risk at HSBC Holdings plc where he had responsibility for strategic intelligence and security work across the 85 countries where HSBC has offices. A major part of his work involved close liaison with law enforcement and other agencies both in the UK and overseas.
Before joining HSBC Karl served 16 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. During that time he held senior posts in London, Hong Kong and Argentina, where amongst other things he was involved in the hand-over of Hong Kong to China and in Falkland Islands security issues. He successfully established a number of inter-governmental counter-terrorism partnerships with European and other government agencies.
He speaks Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.
Hugh McLeod set up Assynt Associates in 2003. The team of twelve provides briefing and analysis on terrorism and country risk issues to large companies and government entities with interests in the Middle East and beyond. The company became part of Stirling Assynt in April 2008.
Hugh spent 18 years in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with postings to Islamabad, Accra, Nicosia - where he served as Political Counsellor - and Kosovo. During his time in London his responsibilities included Counter-Terrorism, the Arabian Peninsula and the Former Soviet Union. Before that he was in the Army, serving as an infantry officer. He was awarded the MBE after working in the liaison mission to the Soviet Forces in East Germany.
He speaks Russian and is based in the UK.
He is a member of the Council of the Risk and Security Management Forum (RSMF) and is Vice Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Cities Security and Resilience Network (CSARN).
Christopher is a qualified barrister and has over fifteen years' experience in business intelligence and investigations. Prior to the foundation of Stirling Assynt, he established the Madrid office of Kroll Associates and has wide experience of running business intelligence projects worldwide, especially in Francophone Africa and Latin America, for a range of multinational clients.
He has lived and worked in a number of countries and is fluent in Spanish, French and Italian.
