Sir John Chipman KCMG is Executive Chairman of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). He has served on a variety of corporate international advisory boards and company Boards of Directors, and consults widely for businesses with international interests. His Harvard Business Review article of September 2016 on ‘Why Your Company needs a Foreign Policy’ has been influential in guiding corporate policy. 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 holds a BA (Hons) from Harvard, an MA (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and an M.Phil and D.Phil from Balliol College Oxford. Prior to assuming the Executive Chair of the IISS in 2023, he served as a Research Associate (1983–84), Assistant Director (1987–90) Director of Studies (1990–93) and Director-General and Chief Executive of the IISS (1993–2023), with a spell (1985–87) as a Research Associate at the Atlantic Institute for International Affairs in Paris.

As Chief Executive of the IISS he directed its growth globally as the world’s premier institute providing facts and analysis on international security issues and has developed its role as a convener of vital inter-governmental summits. He conceived and established 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 was appointed a Knight Commander of The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in His Majesty The King’s Birthday Honours in June 2023, having been made a Companion of the Order (CMG) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 1999.