Who We Are

Gatehouse leads with its principals. Individuals with deep experience of analysing geopolitical risk and leading advisory teams.

Managing Director, Operations
Alexandra Ibrová

Associate

Benedict Hamlyn

Non-Executive Director
Ash Alexander-Cooper

Chairman

Sir Jeremy Greenstock

Sir Jeremy Greenstock is the co-founder and Chairman of Gatehouse. He served in the British Diplomatic Service from 1969 to 2004, developing specialisations in the Middle East, Transatlantic Relations and the United Nations. His postings included Dubai, Washington, Saudi Arabia, Paris and New York. He served as UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1998-2003), and as UK Special Envoy for Iraq (2003-2004).

Sir Jeremy has been a Special Adviser to BP and Non-Executive Director of De La Rue; as well as the Director of the Ditchley Foundation (2004-2010).

Director

Sir David Manning

Sir David Manning is a Director of Gatehouse. He joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1972 and served in Warsaw, New Delhi, Paris and Moscow. He was Head of Policy Planning (1994-1995) and Ambassador to Israel (1995-1998). He then served as Deputy Under-Secretary of State for Defence and Intelligence and a member of the Foreign Office Board (1998- 2000).

Sir David was the UK Permanent Representative at NATO (2000-2001) before returning to London as Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister and Head of the Defence and Overseas Secretariat (2001-2003). He was then appointed Ambassador to the United States (2003-2007). Sir David Manning has corporate experience as a Non-Executive Director of the BG Group and Lockheed Martin.

CEO

Nick Greenstock

Nick Greenstock is the co-founder and CEO of Gatehouse. He is the primary point of contact for Gatehouse’s expert network of over 3000 contributors.

Nick benefits from broad corporate experience in banking, management consulting and corporate affairs. Prior to Gatehouse, Nick worked in Business Development for the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest. Nick also played rugby professionally for Wasps, Quins and England (1991-2004).

Senior Advisor

Ann Wyman

Ann Wyman is a Senior Advisor to Gatehouse and is based in Tunis. Ann also works with a Pan-African private equity fund focused on investing in the SME sector across Africa. She also sits on the board of the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund established by the US Congress.

She has 20 years of experience in global financial services, and has built a career rooted in the analysis of economic and political trends in emerging markets, with an in-depth knowledge of the CEEMEA region. Ann worked for over a decade in various research functions at Citigroup, including as Managing Director of the Economic and Political Strategies in New York (1996-2009). Ann has also worked for Nomura Securities, where she ran the emerging market research team in London (2010-2012).

Senior Advisor

Radek Sikorski

The Hon. Radosław (Radek) Sikorski is a member of the European Parliament for Poland, sitting on Committees for Foreign Affairs, the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence and the Security and Defence Subcommittee. He is the Chairman of the Delegation for relations with the United States. He was Poland’s Minister of Defence (2005-2007), Foreign Minister (2007-2014) and Speaker of Parliament (2014-2015).

Radek also worked as a war reporter in Afghanistan and Angola. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Studies at Harvard and a Distinguished Statesman at CSIS.

Senior Advisor

Vasuki Shastry

Vasuki Shastry is a Senior Advisor to Gatehouse, based in Dubai and Washington DC. Alongside his role at Gatehouse, he is Senior Advisor on ESG & Climate for BCW Global and serves on the Advisory Council of Chatham House on the UK & The World Program. His latest book (“The Notorious ESG – Business, Climate, And The Race To Save The Planet”) will be published in September.

Vasuki has deep expertise across the themes of global finance, and multilateral institutions and coordination (incl. IMF, WB, COP and Davos), and ESG and climate finance; as well as in-depth knowledge of markets ranging from the Middle East, to South Asia and the Asia Pacific. Vasuki has previously served as Global Head of Public Affairs and Sustainability at Standard Chartered and Global Head of Public Affairs for the IMF.

Senior Advisor

Dr Michal Meidan

Dr Michal Meidan joined Gatehouse as a Senior Advisor in June 2023. Alongside her role at Gatehouse, Michal is the Head of China Energy Research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Before joining OIES in July 2019, she held roles that include leading cross-commodity China research at Energy Aspects, and running China Matters, an independent research consultancy providing analysis on the politics of energy in China.

Michal provides expertise on a range of themes, including energy security, decarbonisation and China’s political economy and energy landscape. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and French.

Managing Director

Jack Lambert

Jack joined Gatehouse in 2017, most recently becoming Managing Director of Delivery. Jack oversees the delivery of client projects on a wide range of global markets and leads Gatehouse’s UK political advisory service.

After studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford, Jack joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2012, where he was an Associate in the UK Investment Banking & Corporate Broking team. This role encompassed transaction advisory (Mergers & Acquisitions, Equity and Debt) and long-term client relationships.

Managing Director, Operations

Alexandra Ibrová

Alex joined Gatehouse in 2018. As Head of Operations she oversees compliance, HR, legal and accounting for the business. Alex was promoted to Managing Director in 2022. A true advocate for ESG, she actively drives the agenda of Gatehouse in that space.

Prior to joining Gatehouse, Alex worked in administrative roles in the financial sector. She studied Ecology and Environmental studies for her Bachelor’s degree and holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology and Human Genetics from Charles University in Prague.

Executive Assistant

Natasha Johnson

Natasha joined Gatehouse in 2022 as Executive Assistant. She has over 20 years of experience in various secretarial and office administrative roles. Previous sector experience has included investment banking, automotive financing, building services, health and IT.

Natasha is certified in Professional Management Studies from the Royal Bank Institute of Business & Technology in Trinidad.

Managing Associate

Chris Baird

Chris joined Gatehouse in 2018, later becoming a Managing Associate. Prior to joining Gatehouse, Chris worked as a tutor and as a due diligence investigator for a corporate intelligence organisation. Chris graduated with first-class honours in Geography from the University of Oxford in 2017.

At Gatehouse, Chris has worked particularly closely on global decarbonisation issues and macro / thematic geopolitical analysis, and his geographic focus areas include Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Managing Associate

Sara Willoughby

Sara is a Managing Associate and joined Gatehouse in 2021. She holds Master’s degrees in International Relations from the University of St Andrews (MA Hons) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc), and studied Arabic at the American University of Beirut. Prior to joining Gatehouse, Sara worked as a policy consultant in the Middle East, where she advised governmental clients on political risk management and crisis preparedness.

At Gatehouse, Sara closely monitors political developments in the Middle East, while her other focus areas also include the US and Canada.

Managing Associate

Jake Brewer

Jake is a Managing Associate and joined Gatehouse in 2022. Prior to joining Gatehouse, Jake worked as a Strategy Consultant, where he advised financial services and energy clients on market entry and corporate strategy. Jake holds a first-class Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

At Gatehouse, Jake has worked particularly closely on issues related to the energy transition and conflict scenario planning, with a particular focus on the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region.

Senior Associate

Benjamin Haigh

Ben joined Gatehouse in January 2022, later becoming a Senior Associate. Prior to Gatehouse, Ben worked for an investment consultancy that provided support to the UK’s leading financial planning firms. Before that, he graduated with first-class honours in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Ben leads Gatehouse’s research on sub-Saharan Africa, but he also takes a keen interest in UK domestic politics and the geopolitics of Latin America. Ben has closely supported clients on a range of tactical and strategic questions, including supply chain relocation & the geopolitics of the energy transition.

Senior Associate

Darius Barik

Darius is a Senior Associate. He joined Gatehouse in 2022, after completing his Master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He holds further degrees in Modern Languages (French and Italian) and Law. Darius is a qualified solicitor and advised on commercial law matters for several years prior to joining Gatehouse. He can also work in French.

At Gatehouse, Darius closely follows the political dynamics of the Middle East and themes including the geopolitics of energy.

Associate

Hager Elkhidir

Hager joined Gatehouse as an Associate in 2022, after receiving her Master’s degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to joining Gatehouse, Hager worked as a research assistant studying conflict and territorial evolution in Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa. She then worked as an Election Fellow for the Monroe County Board of Elections in Rochester, New York.

At Gatehouse, Hager focuses her research on Sub-Saharan Africa, but her broader interests also include the Middle East and Latin America.

Associate

Lizabeth Weingart

Lizabeth (Lizzie) joined Gatehouse as an Associate in 2023, after receiving her Master’s degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Previously, Lizzie worked as a risk consultant, advising on technology and corporate strategy, and in a US-based think tank, where she focused her research on US foreign policy.

At Gatehouse, Lizzie has a geographic focus on the Asia-Pacific region, but she also follows the politics of the US and China-Russia relations.

Associate

Benedict Hamlyn

Benedict joined Gatehouse in 2023. He has previously worked at RUSI, as Head of Operations for an Amsterdam-based mental health charity and as a freelance journalist for various political media outlets. He holds an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a Bachelor’s degree from Amsterdam University College, graduating as Valedictorian.

At Gatehouse, Benedict works on issues including international conflict and overseas development. His geographical focus is on the Asia Pacific, but has a broader interest in the politics of Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.

Director

Basil Towers

Basil joined Gatehouse as a Director in 2013. Basil advises boards, senior executives, and corporate affairs leaders on the value of reputations and trust and the capabilities and practices required to crystallise this value.

Basil sold his advisory business to Blue Rubicon (pre-Teneo) in 2014. He has helped establish the Corporate Affairs Academy in partnership with the Centre for Corporate Reputation at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, where he taught for nine years. He is also an adviser to the societal intelligence consultancy Gemic.

Non-Executive Director

Ash Alexander-Cooper

Ash joined Gatehouse as a non-Executive Director in 2019. He is a former Gurkha officer, combat helicopter pilot, Specialist Military Unit officer, wounded veteran and former Senior Partner at McChrystal Group. Currently, Ash is responsible for developing international business and strategic partnerships for Palantir Technologies.

With a focus on leader development, talent management, and team-building solutions, Ash draws upon lessons learned from over 25 years of experience leading and managing diverse multinational military, civilian, government, sports and other elite teams. Ash joined Gatehouse Advisory Partners as Non-Executive Director in 2018.

Non-Executive Director

Viki Cooke

Viki Cooke joined Gatehouse as a non-Executive Director in January 2023.

Viki is a serial entrepreneur. She is currently Co-Founder and Chair of BritainThinks, a multi-award-winning, pioneering insight and strategy consultancy. She is a Trustee of The Climate Group, Vice Chair of Q, a Non-Executive Director of Blakeney Group and a member of the Net Zero Building Council. She is the former Chair of Hubbub Foundation and, until January 2020, she was Vice Chair and Pro-Chancellor of the University of Warwick.

Finance

Nick Ashford-Hodges

Nick is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Director with 50 years experience in practice, consultancy, project management and various board level appointments, the latter primarily in the financial services sector in Africa and Mediterranean. His career and board committee roles have covered wide ranging remits including financial systems, corporate governance, strategic planning, performance management and M&A.

He has been providing financial guidance and oversight to Gatehouse since 2016.