Sir John Chipman is Executive Chairman of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and Senior Adviser at Centricus, a leading asset management and advisory firm.

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.

The IISS grew from one small office in London, to a large London headquarters with international offices in Washington DC, Singapore, Manama, Bahrain and Berlin, Germany. He developed the IISS role as a convener of vital inter-governmental summits, conceiving and establishing two regional security institutions under IISS auspices: in the Asia-Pacific the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue hosted by Singapore, and in the Middle East the IISS Manama Dialogue hosted by Bahrain. 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.

He has served on a variety of international advisory boards including the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK), and Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Ltd 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.

His article in the September 2016 Harvard Business Review (HBR) 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.
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.’