When this is useful
You are entering a market you don't know well, need partners, buyers or suppliers, or have a cross-border deal that isn't moving. Most of my work here is in the Gulf, Türkiye, Central Asia and South Asia.
Examples
- Market entry and international partnerships
- Business development and stakeholder research
- Meeting preparation and local relationships
- How the government and private sector actually work in a given country
- Cross-border transactions: buyers, suppliers, counterparties, commercial terms, documentation, freight and logistics
What I can do
Work through it with you on a call, or as a project, do the research, set up meetings and coordinate the people needed to move it forward.
Relevant experience
- In my current commercial work I lead operations and international partnerships: international operations, vendors, clients and cross-border opportunities across the Gulf, Türkiye, Central Asia, South Asia and Europe.
- I coordinated a multi-party wheat transaction of about $3M between Kazakhstan and Dubai: buyers, suppliers, commercial terms, documentation, freight planning and logistics.
- My advisory work covers international partnerships, market entry, clients, vendors and cross-border opportunities.
When someone else may be needed
Local legal, tax, licensing and customs questions go to qualified local professionals.
When this is useful
You are looking at a company, an IPO or a sector and want someone to pressure-test your thinking. I look at the company underneath the ticker: how it makes money, management, cash flow, debt, competitive position, valuation, industry conditions, risks and what is already built into the price.
Examples
- Business model, revenue, earnings, cash flow and debt
- Valuation, management, competitors and competitive position
- Industry conditions, sectors and geopolitical exposure
- IPOs and newly public companies
- Catalysts and downside scenarios
- Portfolio concentration and overlapping risk
- Your thesis, long-term versus short-term thinking, and position sizing as a risk-management concept
- Questions to ask before taking a position
What I can do
Go through the company and your reasoning with you, and point out what you may be missing. I may bring in people who look at markets differently, such as fundamental researchers, technical analysts or professional fund managers.
Relevant experience
- I invest personally and spend a lot of time researching companies, markets, valuation and business developments.
- My professional work includes due diligence, risk analysis, commercial evaluation and cost and resource analysis.
When someone else may be needed
I am not a broker or portfolio manager. I don't tell you what to buy, and nothing here promises returns. Regulated, personalized investment advice, custody, brokerage or portfolio management should come from an appropriately registered professional.
When this is useful
Before you sign, invest, partner or hire, and you need to know what you actually know, what doesn't add up and what still needs checking.
Examples
- Company research, ownership and business relationships
- Executive and background research
- Counterparty checks and transaction review support
- Public records, litigation and public information
- Local reputation, local-source research and local verification
- Open-source and multilingual research with source validation
- Geopolitical exposure and sanctions-related risk context where appropriate
What I can do
On a call, help you set the right questions. As a project, do the research and bring in local or specialist help. Larger investigations are always scoped as projects.
Relevant experience
- My advisory work includes due diligence, operational and geopolitical risk, international partners and market-entry questions.
- My government and international work involved reviewing organizations, vendors, proposals, counterparties, risks and source information before decisions were made.
- My research work includes multilingual open-source analysis, source validation, structured data and regional research.
When someone else may be needed
I am not a licensed private investigator. Legal opinions, licensed investigations and formal audits are handled by qualified professionals.
When this is useful
A project is stuck, there are too many moving parts, or nobody clearly owns the whole thing.
Examples
- Special projects, program setup and project recovery
- Coordinating several stakeholders and defining who owns what
- Budgets, resources, vendors, contractors and deadlines
- Workflows, reporting, decision support and fixing broken systems
- Crisis or problem response, and taking an idea into execution
- Teams: structure, distributed teams, recruiting, onboarding, delegation and accountability
- Nonprofit and volunteer operations, fellowship and internship systems
- Working across countries and time zones, and building processes without large budgets
What I can do
Structure the work, find what is missing, set up ownership and reporting, and stay involved to keep it moving.
Relevant experience
- In U.S. government work I managed operational and analytical support for a portfolio of about $80M across 19 countries.
- I consolidated 115 separate trackers into one operating environment used by more than 300 personnel, with clear ownership, deadlines, reporting and resource visibility.
- At Rise to Peace I built and manage distributed teams, recruiting, research, publishing, technology and project workflows across an international organization.
When someone else may be needed
Specialized technical, legal or financial work is brought in from qualified people.
When this is useful
You work with, sell to or partner with government, and need to understand how it actually operates.
Examples
- Federal and program operations
- Acquisition and procurement: RFIs, RFQs and RFPs
- Government contracting, capture, teaming and the buyer-side perspective
- Contractor and vendor management
- Interagency coordination, executive briefing and formal documentation
- Translating policy into operations
- Federal customer strategy, public/private coordination and international government programs
What I can do
Explain how the process works, review your approach and help with strategy and documentation.
Relevant experience
- Nearly two decades of work in and around the U.S. government across the Departments of State, Defense and Justice, intelligence and national-security environments, diplomacy and overseas operations.
- Program operations, procurement and acquisition support, contractors and vendors, executive briefings, interagency coordination and turning policy requirements into operational actions.
- On the commercial side of federal contracting: capture, teaming, RFIs, RFQs, RFPs, vendors and customer requirements.
When someone else may be needed
This is experience-based operational and strategic work. I do not lobby, sell access or promise influence. Contract law questions go to a qualified attorney.
When this is useful
People are traveling to or working in a difficult place, an event needs security, or a situation is turning into a crisis.
Examples
- Travel risk and movement planning
- Executive protection requirements, secure transportation and protective drivers
- Local security coordination and event security
- Threat and risk research, geopolitical and operational risk
- Conflict and high-risk environments
- Contingency planning and crisis coordination
What I can do
Help define the requirement, assess what type of support may be needed and identify appropriate qualified providers.
Relevant experience
- My career includes work in conflict and high-risk environments, national security, crisis operations and overseas missions.
- I have worked alongside military, diplomatic, law-enforcement, justice-sector and security personnel in difficult operating environments.
- My advisory work includes geopolitical and operational risk.
When someone else may be needed
I do not personally provide armed protection. Regulated or licensed security work is handled by appropriately qualified providers.
When this is useful
You need the right people in a conversation and want it to lead somewhere.
Examples
- Stakeholder mapping and identifying participants
- Meeting strategy, agendas and briefing materials
- Private meetings, roundtables, conferences and delegations
- Speaker and participant identification
- Cross-cultural engagement and bringing different parties into one room
- Follow-up that moves the discussion toward an outcome
What I can do
Plan who should be involved and how to approach them, prepare the discussion and keep the follow-up moving.
Relevant experience
- I have organized and taken part in conferences, policy forums, briefings and international meetings.
- Through Rise to Peace I have brought together people from government, media, academia, international organizations and research.
When someone else may be needed
Introductions are made selectively where there is a legitimate fit. They are never guaranteed or sold.
When this is useful
You are deciding on a move, preparing for a big step or trying to build a profile.
Examples
- Federal careers, international affairs and government contracting
- Moving from government to the private sector, or the other way
- Job search, interviews and networking
- Graduate school and building experience
- Starting a nonprofit or a company
- Building a media or speaking profile
What I can do
Give you a straight view and help you decide on the next move. A Quick call or Strategy session is usually enough; Ongoing works for an active job search.
Relevant experience
- My own career has crossed the U.S. government, government contracting, nonprofit leadership, international business, media, entrepreneurship, advisory work and AI workflows.
- Through Rise to Peace I have recruited, interviewed, onboarded and supported hundreds of fellows, researchers, analysts and team members.
When this is useful
You are going on TV, speaking on a panel, facing hard questions or need to explain something complicated clearly.
Examples
- Live television and breaking news
- Interviews, panels, moderation and public speaking
- Talking points, sound bites and challenging questions
- What producers and journalists expect
- Becoming a commentator
- Cross-cultural, difficult and executive communication
What I can do
Prepare with you and work through the message, the likely questions and the delivery.
Relevant experience
- More than 200 media engagements, including U.S. and international television, as an international-affairs and national-security commentator.
- Conferences, panels, moderation, public discussions and executive briefings.
When someone else may be needed
To book me for an interview or event, see Speaking & Media.
When this is useful
Show me the workflow that is wasting your time. Sometimes AI is useful. Sometimes the problem is better solved another way.
Examples
- AI-assisted research and agents
- Workflow design and task routing
- Monitoring, dashboards and data organization
- Recruiting pipelines and publishing
- Knowledge management and internal operating systems
- Review gates, escalation and quality control, with a person in the loop on real decisions
What I can do
Look at how the work is done now, decide what is worth automating and what should stay with a person, and help build it.
Relevant experience
- I design AI-enabled workflows for research, monitoring, documentation, task routing and reporting, with human-review controls.
- At Rise to Peace I built AI-assisted systems for recruiting, research, publishing, monitoring and task management, using tools such as ChatGPT/Codex, Claude, Grok and Microsoft Copilot.
- In government work I redesigned workflows and reporting, including consolidating 115 disconnected trackers into one operating environment.
Best for
A specific situation involving people, organizations or another country, where you want someone who has actually dealt with it.
Examples
- I need a partner or distributor in the Gulf and don't know where to start.
- We meet a government office next week and don't know who really decides.
- A counterparty overseas wants to move fast and something feels off.
- I need security for a trip and don't know what is appropriate.
- I need to reach a certain kind of person or organization and don't know how.
What you get
- My read on the situation, from having been in similar ones
- The kind of people or organizations you need, and how to approach them
- Clear next steps
- If I know someone who is a legitimate fit, I'll tell you
Not for
Research, investigations or anything that needs work after the call. Those are projects.
Best for
A situation with several people, parties or options, where the path from A to B isn't clear yet.
Examples
- Entering a new market and working out who you need on the ground
- Structuring a partnership between companies or organizations
- Approaching a government customer or contract
- A deal that has stalled between several parties
- Building a team or presence in another country
What happens
Send me a short description when you book. On the call we map who matters, what each side wants, what is missing and the sequence of moves to get it done.
What you leave with
A plan for who to approach, in what order and how. If I know someone who is a legitimate fit, I’ll tell you.
Introductions are never guaranteed. Offline research is scoped separately.
Best for
A specific deal, partner, company or project where the details matter.
You can send
- The proposal, deal terms or project plan
- Information on the partner, counterparty or company
- Meeting background and who will be in the room
- Public filings or an investment thesis
What happens
I review the material beforehand. We spend 90 minutes on it: the people involved, the risks, what doesn't add up and the best way forward.
Afterward
Written notes with the key points, the people or kinds of specialists to involve, and next steps.
Not included
A full investigation, days of research, legal opinions or investment management. Those are projects.
Best for
Something you are actively doing over the next month: a partnership, a market entry, a launch, a deal, a hire or a job move.
Includes
- 4 scheduled calls over one month
- Short follow-up messages between calls
- Preparing for each meeting and reviewing what happened after it
- Introductions where there is a legitimate fit along the way
Not included
Project work done on your behalf. If you need me to run it, that is a project.
What it is
Instead of advice on a call, I work on your problem directly, as your consultant, for the scope we agree.
The kind of work
- Due diligence on a company, partner, counterparty or person
- Research and intelligence: finding out what is actually happening, including overseas and in other languages
- Finding the right people and organizations, and making introductions where there is a fit
- Setting up and joining meetings, in the U.S. or abroad
- Moving a partnership, deal or market entry forward
- Coordinating security, local support and specialists
- Taking over a stuck project and getting it finished
How it works
- You tell me what you need, confidentially.
- I tell you honestly whether I can do it, and who else would be involved.
- We agree scope, timeline and fee in writing.
- I do the work and keep you updated as it moves.
Discreet and legal. Regulated work such as legal, licensed security or investment management is handled by qualified professionals.
Getting a stuck or messy effort organized and moving: who owns what, what is missing, what has to happen next.
Examples
- Setting up or recovering a program
- Coordinating vendors, contractors and stakeholders
- Building a distributed team, recruiting and onboarding
- Fixing a broken process or reporting system
Who does the work
Usually me directly, with specialists brought in where needed.
Written research on a company, sector or market beyond what fits in a call.
Examples
- A company review before a decision
- An IPO or newly public company
- A sector overview with geopolitical exposure
- Pressure-testing a thesis with other specialists
Who does the work
Me, sometimes with people in fundamental research, technical analysis or fund management.
Research only. Not brokerage, personalized investment advice or portfolio management.
Practical support for working in another country, especially the Gulf, Türkiye, Central Asia and South Asia.
Examples
- Market-entry groundwork
- Finding and checking local partners, buyers or suppliers
- Moving a cross-border transaction forward
- Organizing a trip with the right meetings
Who does the work
Me, with local partners and specialists where needed.
Checking a company, executive, partner, counterparty or transaction before you commit.
Examples
- Background on an overseas counterparty
- Verifying claims in a proposal
- Ownership, reputation and local-source checks
Who does the work
Me, with multilingual and local researchers where needed.
Legal review and licensed investigations are handled by qualified professionals.
Help working with the U.S. government as a customer or partner.
Examples
- Understanding a solicitation (RFI, RFQ or RFP)
- Capture planning and teaming
- Federal customer strategy
- Program operations and documentation
Who does the work
Me directly.
No lobbying, no selling access, no promises of influence.
Defining what a trip, event or operation needs, and identifying and coordinating qualified providers.
Examples
- Executive travel to a difficult location
- Secure transportation and protective drivers
- Event security and contingency planning
Who does the work
I define and coordinate the requirement. Licensed providers carry out the security work.
Organizing meetings, roundtables, conferences and delegations, from participants and agenda through follow-up.
Examples
- A set of meetings in a city or country
- A private roundtable
- Speaker and participant identification
Who does the work
Me, with event and local partners where needed.
Introductions only where there is a legitimate fit.
Open-source, multilingual and local-source research when information is missing or unclear.
Examples
- A situation abroad that needs understanding quickly
- Monitoring a region, issue or company
- Background research on a complex question
Who does the work
Me and a research team, using AI-assisted tools with human review.
Finding, approaching and structuring partnerships, and staying involved until something happens.
Examples
- Identifying potential partners
- Preparing and running the approach
- Following through after first meetings
Who does the work
Me directly.
A longer arrangement for an organization or leader who wants regular input on a continuing set of issues.
Examples
- Regular calls with a leadership team
- Support through a multi-month initiative
Terms are agreed in writing for each engagement.
Rise to PeaceGeorge Washington University · 2017Global War on Terrorism: Myths, Realities, Solutions
Rise to PeaceRise to Peace · 2018Countering Violent Extremism: From Definition to Prevention
Rise to PeaceJohn Jay College · 2019Civil Society and Prevention in New York
Rise to PeaceAmerican University of Afghanistan · 2019Elections, Extremism and the Next Generation
Rise to PeaceRise to PeaceAll conferences & dialogues
