John Raine  Keynote Speaker

Chair, Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission (since February 2021)
Senior Adviser, IISS – Geopolitical Due Diligence
Awarded CMG and OBE for services to British diplomacy

John Raine 's Biography

John Raine CMG OBE brings decades of frontline diplomacy to the global stage. He serves as Senior Adviser for Geopolitical Due Diligence at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where he researches how proxies, non‑kinetic power and great‑power competition shape state behaviour and business risk. On stage, he brings diplomatic rigour and global outlook to highly engaged boardroom and policy audiences.

Between 1984 and 2017, Raine represented the UK across the Middle East and South Asia with postings in Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Baghdad and Islamabad. He held senior roles in the UK’s national security community and worked with allied governments and military partners to design and deliver strategic and operational policy.

His governance portfolio includes non‑executive directorship at HSBC Bank Middle East, Deputy Chair of the University of Lincoln Board of Governors, and Senior Trustee of The HALO Trust. Since 2022 he has been Visiting Professor at King’s College London’s Centre for the Study of Intelligence and Department of War Studies, contributing to the field of intelligence and security studies.

Raine’s recent speaking and publication highlights include expert commentary at the 20th IISS Manama Dialogue in December 2024, analysis of partnership dynamics at the Shangri‑La Dialogue in May 2025, and his lead IISS Online Analysis for Survival magazine (Vol 66.1, Feb–Mar 2024) on Ukraine and global proxy warfare. He helps audiences translate geopolitical complexity into clear decisions, policy and investment strategy.

Geopolitical due diligence for boards, investors and executives

Middle East statecraft: Gulf, Iran, Israel and regional realignments

Proxy warfare, hybrid conflict and the power of non‑kinetic strategies

Corporate foreign policy amid rising systemic competition

Crisis leadership and governance lessons from diplomacy and intelligence

He brings more than three decades at the heart of UK foreign and security policy, with senior diplomatic postings across Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan, giving leaders a grounded view of how states really make decisions under pressure.
He translates today’s geopolitical shocks, from proxy warfare to non-kinetic instruments of power and great-power competition, into clear implications for corporate risk, resilience and strategic planning.
He offers rigorous geopolitical due diligence insight through his role at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, helping boards understand exposure, anticipate escalation pathways and prioritise mitigation.
He draws on extensive bilateral and multilateral work with US administrations and the US military to show organisations how alliances operate in practice and what that means for operating environments, regulation and reputation.
He brings a public leadership perspective as Chair of the Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission and a non-executive director in the Middle East, helping audiences connect geopolitical strategy to governance, leadership judgement and stakeholder confidence.