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 and brought the Assynt Report and the twelve-strong team into the new 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 has served as a member of the Council of the Risk and Security Management Forum and is currently Vice Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Cities Security and Resilience Network. He is also International Intelligence Adviser to the Homeland Security Division of the US National Defence Industries Association.
Tim previously worked as a Policy Advisor at the Society of British Aerospace Companies, Head of European Security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and in a defence policy role for the Conservative Party. He remains an Associate Fellow of RUSI. Tim has lectured widely on defence and security issues, including at the NATO School and Wilton Park.
As part of her former role at Deloitte LLP and in her current position at Stirling Assynt, Amelie has worked on a wide range of due diligence investigations covering a multitude of jurisdictions. Her specialisms include the Former Soviet Union, Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Amelie holds a BA in Hispanic and Latin American Studies and Russian, and is fluent in French and Spanish and proficient in Russian and Portuguese.
Andrew left Crown Service in 2010 after 30 years, to pursue a business career. 11 years as an infantry officer saw him serving in operational and intelligence roles in Germany, Gibraltar, Central America and Northern Ireland. In 1990 he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, serving in the Middle East, Latin America, Northern and Southern Europe and South Asia, specialising in intelligence, security and political matters. His last posting was to Afghanistan where he had also previously served in 2001/2. He has particular expertise in technical security issues, in Counter-Insurgency and in the development of security and intelligence capacity for business and Governments. He is a Deployable Civilian Expert (Security and Justice) of the British Government's Stabilisation Unit, an Honorary Fellow of Exeter University's Institute for Security and Strategy and a visiting lecturer to the Durham University Global Security Institute.
Nick joined from another leading company in the sector, where he held a similar post for nearly five years. Prior to that he was an investment banker, specialising in mergers & acquisitions and capital raising. During his 30 year career in finance he served in senior positions in a number of leading international financial institutions, including Salomon Brothers, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Ernst and Young and Commerzbank Securities. He also spent four years in the British Army in the early 1970s.
Jim is a former Army Intelligence officer, with a particular focus on terrorism and Middle East. He has experience of a wide range of due diligence investigations spanning multiple jurisdictions. He speaks Serbo-Croat, Albanian, French, Spanish and Arabic.
