Senior advice
Experience advising ministers, senior executives and boards on decisions shaped by political, institutional and international pressures.
Strategy · Geopolitics · Leadership · Resilience
Al Hynes
Strategy adviser and geopolitical analyst
I help leaders and organisations understand how political, geopolitical and institutional pressures affect their choices, then turn that analysis into clear strategy and practical action.
My work is rooted in international security and extends across energy security, climate-related risk, critical infrastructure, technology, national resilience and organisational change. I draw on more than sixteen years across government, defence, NATO, the United Nations and UK–Australia business.
What I do
Clearer choices in a changing environment.
Al understands how politics, institutions, geopolitical change and organisational pressures interact, and helps leaders decide what to do about them.
- Strategic advice
Help leaders clarify priorities, test assumptions and connect long-term direction with practical delivery.
- Geopolitical analysis
Translate political, security, regulatory and international developments into implications organisations can understand and act upon.
- Leadership and resilience
Improve decision-making, organisational alignment and preparedness where uncertainty, competing priorities and external pressure collide.
Areas of focus
- Geopolitical competition and international security
- Energy security and the climate transition
- National resilience and critical infrastructure
- Technology, industrial capacity and state power
- Politics, institutions and public trust
- Leadership in complex and high-pressure environments
Selected experience
Experience that connects policy with delivery.
International security is the foundation, not the boundary. The work spans strategic planning, governance, executive coordination, organisational leadership and cross-functional delivery.
International portfolios
Direction of an eleven-country security policy and capability portfolio, with responsibility for approximately £5 million.
Strategy in practice
Strategy, policy and organisational work across government, defence, international institutions and UK–Australia business.
Crisis and resilience
Strategic and crisis work involving Afghanistan, Somalia, the UK response to the Sudan evacuation and the Vanuatu earthquake response.
Organisational change
Established a strategy and portfolio-governance function at the Australian British Chamber of Commerce.
Complex delivery
Leadership of multidisciplinary and international teams in demanding operational and policy settings.
Published analysis and public engagement
Ideas tested in public.
Al’s analysis has been published by the Lowy Institute, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, The Diplomat and UK defence journals and publications.
He has participated in panels at Cambridge, spoke to future leaders at King’s College London, was invited to contribute his views at Harvard Kennedy, and discussed and unpacked UK Government public policy with doctoral students at Oxford.
Writing and speakingContact
For considered conversations about difficult choices.
Open to senior strategy and advisory roles, strategic or geopolitical advisory work, published analysis and media, panels, lectures, executive discussions and professional collaboration.
Get in touch