About Us
GlobalStrat is a geopolitical risk, business intelligence and security consultancy with a regional specialisation in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where it has built a reliable and extensive network of sources.
GlobalStrat’s clients include governments across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, along with major multinationals, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers and leading law firms.
Now more than ever, geopolitics and security are central to the business world. Our financial and management background enables us to deliver foreign affairs and security analysis with a distinct business edge.
Whether tailored to your operational needs or delivered as pure intelligence, we can meet your requirements.
GlobalStrat is a strategic partner of the renowned security boutique firm Burrill Green.
Olivier Guitta, CEO and Founder of GlobalStrat
Olivier Guitta is the Managing Director of GlobalStrat, a geopolitical risk and security consultancy firm with a regional specialisation on Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where he has built a reliable and extensive source network.
Olivier has been ranked in the Top 250 terrorism experts in the world, Top 500 National Security and Top 500 Maghreb experts.
He has briefed senior bodies across the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States and the Middle East, including the UK Home Office, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the European Union, the United States Congress, NATO, SOCOM, Europol, and the foreign and defence ministries of Sweden, Belgium and the UAE, as well as US presidential candidates. He has addressed the US Congress and the parliaments of the United Kingdom, the European Union and Bosnia, and is a regular speaker at international security forums. He has also lectured at the National Defense University and the Joint Special Operations University.
His clients include governments across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, alongside major multinationals, sovereign wealth funds, asset managers, leading law firms and Chief Security Officers from some of the world’s largest companies.
His writing on geopolitics and security has appeared in The Times, Le Monde, Newsweek, Fortune, Forbes, The Daily Beast, World Affairs, Jane’s Weekly, National Interest, National Post, The National, Valeurs Actuelles and Le Temps. He is a columnist for the Dubai-based outlets Akhbar and al-Aan TV.
He is also a frequent commentator on BBC, CNN, Sky News, NBC, CNBC, France 24, Fox News, NPR and numerous other international broadcasters, and is often cited by Reuters, AP, AFP, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Telegraph, Le Figaro, Time and many more. He authored the Libya chapter in the Johns Hopkins–SAIS book Paradigm in the Mediterranean.
From 2013 to 2014, he served as Director of Research at the Henry Jackson Society, where he oversaw the organisation’s research strategy and conducted analysis on geopolitics in the MENA region.
Born in Morocco, raised in Spain and France and educated in Cologne and Paris, he spent twelve years in the United States as a portfolio manager before leaving finance after the 9/11 attacks to work in geopolitics and risk analysis in Washington, Paris and later London.
Hollie McKay, Research Director of GlobalStrat
Hollie McKay is renowned for her work as an international affairs war correspondent and global risk analyst, specialising in geopolitics, terrorism, human rights and crimes against humanity. She has reported from more than 50 countries, covering the front lines of major conflict zones and documenting humanitarian and diplomatic crises worldwide, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Ukraine, Burma, Venezuela, Sudan and many other regions.
Her reporting and analysis have appeared across leading print, television and radio outlets such as BBC World Service, The Independent, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes TV, The Cipher Brief, the New York Post, Fox News and The Spectator, among many others.
Hollie is the author of several best-selling books, including Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield, Afghanistan: The End of the U.S. Footprint and Rise of the Taliban Rule, and the novel The Dictator’s Wife. She has served as a Media Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and was named to the Middle East Policy Council’s 2023 “40 Under 40” cohort.
She is an honorary board member of EMERGENCY USA, a non-governmental organisation supporting conflict victims worldwide, and serves voluntarily as Outreach Director for the Burnt Children Relief Foundation (BCRF), helping facilitate life-saving treatment for severely bomb-burned Syrian children.
Australian-born and raised, Hollie is a graduate of the University of Technology Sydney and Pace University in New York, and is a former professional ballerina. She is currently based in Washington, DC, with her husband and young daughter.
GlobalStrat Testimonials
“I have been liaising with Olivier for over a year, discussing his analysis of various regions of interest. I have found his knowledge of these regions second to none, and the work product he shared extremely well researched and of the highest professional quality. Olivier is an energetic analyst with a wealth of knowledge and local contacts. I am always impressed with his reports, easy reads, coupled with accurate representation of the local situation.”
“Olivier Guitta has an in-depth expertise in global security issues and is a hugely well-informed source and resourceful. Olivier’s geopolitical expertise shows a deep understanding of the security concerns in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His briefs on the region help me as a journalist to have a much better understanding of the issues being faced. His analysis of Islamic State and its exporting of terrorism to mainland Europe has been invaluable in a number of subsequent articles.”
“Olivier brings a wealth of insights to the study of terrorism and counterterrorism. His unique ability to navigate multiple cultural contexts in Europe and elsewhere makes him an invaluable resource in understanding the nuances and underlying sources of today’s homegrown terrorist threat”
“Olivier Guitta consistently contributes as a thought leader in the global security arena. Olivier is a brilliant geopolitical expert with a deep and profound understanding of the EMEA. His briefs on the region provide the professional analyst and the lay reader the necessary tools to identify the dynamic political trends as well as the more static cultural undercurrents that define today’s - and tomorrow’s - events.
Olivier is an excellent analyst on geopolitical international events, with a keen eye for issues and the ability to deliver timely and in-depth demarches on matters of deep importance but not really covered. He gets a great deal of information from a wide range of impressive sources and presents the results in crisp, efficient prose. He is, in short, a great resource for western policy-makers, particularly those interested in the crescent from North Africa to Central Asia.”
“Olivier is a leading analyst of political violence. I have benefitted greatly from his analytical insight and productivity”
“Olivier delivers concise, thought-provoking insights across a spectrum of global security risk issues. Each time Olivier pens a new article, its the top of my reading list.”
“I have had the pleasure to work with Olivier in the past and was impressed by his deep level of knowledge and understanding of geopolitical security and risk issues. I was later even more impressed by his ability to interpret and explain to less-initiated audiences the complexities of the world that we live in and have been ever since a loyal follower of Olivier’s frequent TV interviews and print articles. A true expert with few peers.”
