John Chipman

"Dr John Chipman is Director-General and Chief Executive of the IISS in London. He is Advisor to the Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Mumbai and a member of the Excellence Council of private equity firm Abraaj Capital (Dubai). "

Dr John Chipman is Director-General and Chief Executive of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. "He received his BA (Hons) in History from Harvard, an MA (Distinction) in International History from the London School of Economics, and his M.Phil and D.Phil in International Relations from Balliol College Oxford. He was Captain of the Harvard Fencing Team and earned a Full Blue while fencing at Oxford. "Following a year as Research Associate at the IISS in 1983-84, during which he was also a NATO Fellow, he worked in Paris as a Research Associate at the Atlantic Institute for International Affairs from 1985 to 1987. Since 1987 he has held the posts of Assistant Director for Regional Security, and later Director of Studies at the IISS, before assuming the Directorship in 1993. He is the author of Nato’s Southern Allies, Routledge, 1988, and French Power in Africa, Blackwell’s 1989, as well as of numerous chapters in books, scholarly articles in professional journals, and opinion pieces in newspapers. He founded at IISS Strategic Comments, a series of analyses on breaking strategic issues. In 2001 he conceived and launched a new annual forum for consultations between defence ministers and analysts in the Asia-Pacific called the ‘Shangri-La Dialogue’ that has quickly established itself as a core part of regional defence diplomacy and is now in its fifth year. In 2004 he transferred the concept to the Gulf with the convening in Bahrain of a successful IISS summit (‘Gulf Dialogue’) of national security advisors drawn from the region and key outside powers. "He regularly broadcasts for television and radio on regional conflict and current strategic trends (in English, French and Spanish) and writes frequently for leading newspapers on European, Middle Eastern and Asian security issues. As Director of IISS he has travelled to over 100 countries to maintain the Institute’s impressive public policy network. In 1999 he was made Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. "He is married to Lady Theresa (née Manners), daughter of the 10th Duke of Rutland, and has two sons. They live in South West London. "Joined IISS: May 1987"


 * Director, International Institute for Strategic Studies - US
 * Advisory Board, Cool Earth