Plato Group Advisors

Andrew Gilmour CMG

Andrew is the former UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights (2016-19), and before that was the Director in the office of the UN Secretary-General for political, peacekeeping, human rights, and humanitarian affairs. In a career spanning 30 years at the UN, he worked in the Middle East, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, West Africa and Geneva. He was CEO at the Berghof Foundation in Berlin from 2020-25, and is the author of The Burning Question: Climate and Conflict - Why Does It Matter (2024), which explores how climate change is reshaping global security. He has been a Visiting Fellow at All Souls in Oxford and is a Senior Fellow at SOAS in London. Recent articles by him have been published in the Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Times, Der Spiegel, Bloomberg, and numerous other outlets.

Areas of expertise:

Diplomacy
Human Rights
Climate Change
International Security & Intelligence
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention

West Africa
East Africa
Balkans
Afghanistan
Ukraine

Awatef Shawish

Awatef is an accomplished Libyan development and policy consultant with over 20 years’ experience delivering impactful programmes and strategic advisory across Libya and North Africa. Her expertise spans economic development, governance, gender equality, civil society strengthening, and international cooperation. She presently works as a consultant with the Libyan British Business Council (LBBC) on bilateral business development and investment, and in previous roles with GIZ and the British Council she led on designing and managing complex programmes in post-conflict environments. She was also a co-founder of the NGO Peace, Equality, and Prosperity. Awatef holds an MSc in Conflict, Security and International Development, has in-depth knowledge of donor frameworks (UN, EU, BMZ, AICS, FCDO) and brings an extensive network of contacts across government, civil society, and the private sector in the region. She is a Plato Group Consultant based between Cairo and Tripoli.

Areas of expertise:

Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention

North Africa

Bobby McDonagh

During his diplomatic career, Bobby served as Ireland’s Ambassador to the EU (2005-9), UK (2009-13), Italy (2013-17) and Malaysia. He held several senior positions at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, including as Deputy Secretary General. He is a particular expert on EU matters having worked as EU Director General in Dublin and in all three major EU institutions: the Council of Ministers in which he represented Ireland, the European Commission where he served in the Cabinets of two EU Commissioners, and the European Parliament of which he was an official. He worked extensively on British-Irish relations including implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. He studied at Oxford University, where he was President of the Oxford Union. He has written extensively on European and British-Irish relations. He is a Plato Group Consultant based in Dublin and can advise clients globally.

Areas of expertise:

Diplomacy
European Institutions
Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention

The European Union

Brian Bowler

Brian is a globally distinguished diplomat and board-level executive with a career spanning all continents. He served as Malawi’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Vice President of the UN General Assembly, influencing global policy and leading complex multilateral negotiations. He has held senior ambassadorial postings in Brazil, India, Switzerland and France, as well as to the EU and the WTO. He has brokered over a dozen bilateral trade negotiations, secured hundreds of millions in development financing, and built enduring partnerships with world leaders, corporations and multilateral institutions. In the private sector, Brian has led successful turnaround strategies as Chairman of Air Malawi, the Malawian Development Corporation, and the Malawi Mobile Corporation. He is a former member of the Executive Board at UNICEF, and has advanced leadership and executive management qualifications from the British Royal Military College of Science, and Yale School of Management.

Areas of expertise:

Trade & Investment
Democracy & Governance
International Security & Intelligence
Critical Minerals

Central Africa
West Africa
Southern Africa
The European Union

Churchill Ogutu

Churchill is an Economist with 15 years' experience working in researching African capital markets. Currently he is in IC Group's asset management division where he covers select African economies and provides multi-sectoral investment opportunities to the investment team. He has developed relationships with key African policymakers and has interacted extensively with the media, both local and international. Prior to this role, he was the Head of Research at Genghis Capital where he provided coverage on the Kenyan economy and fixed-income investment opportunities. Churchill graduated from the University of Nairobi with a BSc. degree in Actuarial Science and is currently a Level 3 candidate in the CFA program. He is an Associate Member of Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA) and a member of the Economists Society of Kenya (ESK). Churchill is a Plato Group Consultant based in Nairobi.

Areas of expertise:

Macroeconomics
Global Financial Markets
Monetary Policy
Fiscal Policy
Sovereign Debt Management
Trade & Investment

East Africa
North Africa
West Africa

Dan Mulhall

Dan spent almost 45 years as an Irish diplomat, including as Ambassador to the United States (2017-22); the United Kingdom (2013-17); Germany and Malaysia. He was in Washington during the first Trump Administration and in London during the Brexit referendum; in 1998 he was involved in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement. He is consulted widely on EU affairs, Anglo-Irish relations, transatlantic relations and US politics. Since his retirement, Dan has taught at New York University and was also a Parnell Fellow at Magdalene College, Cambridge and a Resident Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics. He is based in Edinburgh and can advise clients globally.

Areas of expertise:

Diplomacy
Transatlantic Relations
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention

The European Union
The United States

Dilan Saujani

Dilan is a former Economist at HM Treasury in the UK government, where he specialised in emerging markets, particularly in North Africa and Latin America. He also led the UK’s analysis into European oil and gas dependencies in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, helping to inform UK sanctions policy. Since then, Dilan has worked as a Programme Development Specialist at CARE International UK, a global development and humanitarian NGO, where he coordinated teams of cross-disciplinary technical specialists to manage programme design and bid development processes for institutional funding opportunities worth up to £5M. For example, he led funding bids for projects focused on peacebuilding in Syria, community resilience building in Lebanon, and protection from gender-based violence in Nigeria. He is a Plato Group Consultant based in London.

Areas of expertise:

Macroeconomics

Ukraine
North Africa
Latin America

Dr Peadar Brehony

Peadar is a co-founder and director at Sustain, and works in collaboration with Plato Group. He has spent over a decade conducting research and working in conservation and biodiversity across several countries, primarily in East Africa. As a practitioner, his roles included being coordinator of a cross-border conservation initiative between conservation, research, and community NGOs; as a technical advisor; and as a data scientist. He has extensive experience in biodiversity conservation and has published extensively on the subject. He has a PhD from the University of Cambridge in Geography, focussing on social-ecological systems science.

Areas of expertise:

Biodiversity & Conservation

East Africa
North Africa

Dr Peter Tyrrell

Peter is a co-founder and director at Sustain, and works in collaboration with Plato Group. He is an ecologist and community-based conservation (CBC) practitioner with over a decade of experience working in Kenya. His work has focused on developing and supporting locally led conservation models through close collaboration with partners across the country. He has played a central role in coordinating cross-institutional efforts, conducting large-scale spatial analyses, and supporting integrated livestock management and project planning. His background also includes expertise in financial modelling for conservation and development initiatives. Peter has a PhD from the University of Oxford's Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, focussing on ecological and socio-economic interplay between livestock, wildlife and conservation, in Kenya.

Areas of expertise:

Biodiversity & Conservation

East Africa
North Africa

Dr. Akmal Abdurazakov

Dr. Abdurazakov is a co-founder of the Center for Economic Development in Uzbekistan. He is a subject matter expert in international trade and finance, macroeconomic policy and poverty reduction, empirical research and fact finding in social science, applied statistics and advanced econometrics. He has contributed global and regional flagship reports and policy documents produced under the aegis of UNDP, ADB, UN-WATER, UNICEF and others. He has wide international experience stretching from countries of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan), to Europe, North America and Africa (Kenya, Botswana). He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and completed research and teaching fellowships at prestigious universities including The George Washington University in the US. He teaches on macroeconomic policy analysis and practice in International trade and finance at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy in Uzbekistan, and collaborates with the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Germany.

Areas of expertise:

Macroeconomics
Public Finance
Climate Change
Child Protection
Migration & Labour Markets

Central Asia
Balkans
Europe
East Africa
Southern Africa

Dr. Kris Inman

Dr. Inman is a senior leader and subject matter expert in democracy, governance, peacebuilding, counterterrorism and violent extremism prevention in fragile states. She has held leadership roles at the US Institute of Peace and USAID-funded initiatives, where she designed and managed large-scale research, policy, and violence prevention programs in Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. A recognized thought leader, she has briefed policymakers at the US Congress, State Department, Department of Defense, and the Defeat ISIS Coalition. She oversaw evaluation of the world’s largest democracy program in Ukraine, as well as USAID’s terrorism risk and resilience assessment in West Africa. Dr Inman holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Davis, and has held faculty appointments at Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the University of Southern California, where she teaches on conflict, security, and politics in Africa. She is based in Washington but advises clients globally.

Areas of expertise:

Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention
Counterterrorism
Countering Illicit Finance
International Security & Intelligence

West Africa
East Africa
Afghanistan
Ukraine

Fiona Mangan

Fiona is an experienced international policy advisor, with over 15 years’ experience as a specialist in geopolitics, security, justice, and peacebuilding in conflict, post-conflict and transitional environments. She is an arms expert with an additional research background in illicit trafficking and finance, critical raw materials, and transnational crime in Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. She has served multiple mandates with the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on the Central African Republic and the the Democratic Republic of Congo, and worked as a Senior Advisor on Rule of Law with the United States Institute of Peace. She holds an LL.M. from Columbia University in New York, an M.A. in Conflict, Security, and Development from King’s College, London, and a law degree from University College Dublin. She began her career in the Irish government. She is fluent in French and Spanish, and is a Plato Group advisor based in Paris, but advises clients globally.

Areas of expertise:

International Security & Intelligence
Human Rights
Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention
Countering Illicit Finance
Critical Minerals

North Africa
West Africa
Central Africa

Fleur Auzimour Joost

Fleur is an international human rights lawyer and former CEO of the charity, Peaceful Change Initiative. She has over 20 years’ experience in conflict resolution, governance and community-based peacebuilding in countries such as Libya, Liberia, Ghana, Georgia, Sudan, Syria and Mozambique. She has also worked extensively with international donors, UN peacekeeping missions and local and international NGOs in conflict sensitivity and conflict analysis, in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She holds an MA in International Relations, as well as degrees in law and psychology. She began her career as a human rights lawyer for the Federal Government of Australia. Fleur is a Plato Group Consultant based in Italy, with a focus on advising clients in North and West Africa, the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Areas of expertise:

Human Rights
Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention

North Africa
West Africa
Caucasus

Georgia Holmer

Georgia is a globally experienced advisor and strategist with more than two decades of service at the intersection of diplomacy, international security, and human rights. She is the former Head of the Anti-Terrorism Unit at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna and the former Director of the Countering Violent Extremism Program at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC. She served, with distinction, for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for ten years in Athens, Copenhagen, and Washington, DC. She has worked in Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and the Balkans on complex security policy and legal issues. Georgia is experienced in advising senior leaders and is a trusted interlocutor and bridge-builder between governments, multilateral organizations, and civil society. She holds advanced degrees in international human rights law (Oxford) and international relations (Boston U). She is a Plato Group Consultant based in The Hague but advises clients globally.

Areas of expertise:

Human Rights
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention
Counterterrorism
Countering Illicit Finance
International Security & Intelligence

Central Asia
Balkans
East Africa
North Africa
West Africa

Imogen Firmstone

Imogen is an expert in geopolitics, diplomacy and cyber leadership. As a former senior UK diplomat, she has over two decades of experience working at the intersection of strategic decision making, geopolitics and cyber. She has advised governments and international partners on national security and cyber resilience. She has held leadership positions in cross-government and international efforts to counter cyber threats. Imogen is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford University. She is researching decision making and effectiveness in the cyber domain within contemporary geopolitics, and the impact of technological advances such as AI and Quantum technologies on the use of cyber capabilities in an increasingly contested and technologically dynamic global environment. She is a Plato Group Adviser based in the UK but advises clients globally.

Areas of expertise:

cyber Resilience
Diplomacy
International Security & Intelligence
Crisis leadership & Complex Decision-Making
Artificial Intelligence & Quantum Technologies

The European Union
The United Kingdom
Asia-Pacific
Latin America

James Woods

James is a former senior Malawian diplomat and now acts as a corporate adviser and political risk specialist, advising multinationals and investors across African and Gulf markets. He is the Founder of GlobiQ International and works in collaboration with Plato Group. During his diplomatic career, he was accredited to the European Union, Italy, France, and the Benelux countries, where he led engagements on multilateral and bilateral investment relations between Europe and Africa. As an adviser, he has counselled clients on investments across oil and gas, mining, renewable energy, fintech, telecoms, sport, agriculture, and digital infrastructure. He has also advised several African heads of state on communications and strategic positioning. James holds an Executive MBA from the University of Oxford, a Master’s from the London School of Economics, and is a Fellow of the Archbishop Tutu Leadership Programme.

Areas of expertise:

Trade & Investment
Democracy & Governance
International Security & Intelligence
Countering Illicit Finance
Critical Minerals

Central Africa
West Africa
Southern Africa

Jared Osoro

Jared has over two decades of experience as a financial sector macroeconomist in East Africa, most recently with FSD Africa, and since 2024 has been an independent member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Kenya. He has previously been Director of Research and Policy at the Kenyan Bankers Association (KBA) and the Director of their Centre for Research on Financial Markets and Policy. He also previously served as Bank Economist at the East African Development Bank for more than ten years. He has written extensively on finance as an engine of development and written articles as part of Plato Group's Thought Leadership Series. Jared is a Plato Group Consultant based in Nairobi.

Areas of expertise:

Macroeconomics
Development Finance
Monetary Policy
International Banking
Global Financial Markets
Public Finance

East Africa
North Africa
West Africa

Margaret Muthoni

Margaret has over 15 years’ direct experience in the Kenyan banking sector, holding a number of senior positions. She was recently the Trade and Investments Advisor to the Deputy President of Kenya, guiding policy dialogue and supporting public sector reforms within government. Her areas of expertise include: Financial Markets policy development, Regulatory reforms, Sovereign debt management, Sustainable Finance, Value chain development, Treasury and Global markets management, investment management and Cross-border payment systems. She has been recognized for her contributions in the various financial industry reforms working groups at the National Treasury, the Central Bank and the Capital Markets Authority. She is professionally affiliated with the ACI, KBA, CISI and the BMA, and has a Master's in Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences. Margaret is a Plato Group Consultant based in Nairobi.

Areas of expertise:

International Banking
Sustainable Finance
Global Financial Markets
Sovereign Debt Management
Treasury

East Africa
Southern Africa

Matthew T. Page

Matthew T. Page is an associate fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House. For fourteen years, he served as the U.S. intelligence community’s top Nigeria expert, working at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, National Intelligence Council, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Marine Corps. Page also spent six years as a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is an alumnus of the Council on Foreign Relations’ prestigious International Affairs Fellowship. He has written two books Understanding Kleptocracy (Bloomsbury, 2026) and Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2018).

Areas of expertise:

Corruption & Kleptocracy
International Security & Intelligence
Human Rights
Democracy & Governance

West Africa
Southern Africa

Mike Williams

Mike was appointed the first CEO of the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) in 1998: the DMO was created as an executive agency of His Majesty’s Treasury, responsible for carrying out the UK Government’s debt and cash management operations, including issuing gilts to raise long term finance for the government. Before this he spent nearly 25 years in HMT, advising on a range of economic policy issues, and two years at the Ministry of Finance in Zambia. Since retiring from the DMO in 2003, he has acted as a Consultant to the World Bank and the IMF, providing technical assistance to governments across the world, specialising in institution and capacity building, governance, debt strategy and market development, and developing a more efficient and proactive approach to the management of government cash. He is a graduate of Cambridge, subsequently doing research at Oxford, and has published extensively on managing sovereign assets and liabilities.

Areas of expertise:

Soverign Debt Management
Public Finance

East Africa
West Africa
North Africa
Central Asia

Peter Millett CMG

Peter is a former senior British diplomat with over 30 years' experience in international affairs. He was British Ambassador to Libya (2015-18), Jordan (2011-15), and High Commissioner to Cyprus (2005-10). Whilst Ambassador to Libya he played a key role in supporting the UN’s efforts to negotiate and then implement the Libya Political Agreement. He retains relationships with all the key political, security and economic leaders in Libya, including at the National Oil Corporation, Central Bank and the Libya Investment Authority. He is Chairman of the Libya British Business Council (LBBC), promoting bilateral trade between both countries, is Chairman of The Human Edge, formerly the Mowgli Foundation, which works extensively in the Middle East and Africa to mentor entrepreneurs reach their potential. He is fluent in Arabic.

Areas of expertise:

Diplomacy
Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention
Trade & Investment

North Africa
The European Union
The United Kingdom

Rihab Bader

Rihab is a Libyan development professional with over 15 years of experience managing international programs across governance, peacebuilding, and education. Most recently, she led the Community-Based Dialogues for Reconciliation project with the US Institute of Peace (USIP), overseeing implementation across southern Libya despite complex operational challenges. She has also led on capacity building for newly elected local councils in Libya and strengthened ties between municipalities and international partners. Rihab brings many years of expertise in communications and stakeholder engagement, including her leadership roles at the British Council Libya, and has worked extensively with UN agencies, INGOs, the international donor community, as well as government ministries across Libya and North Africa. Fluent in Arabic and English, Rihab holds a BA in Business Management from Webster University in Vienna. She is a Plato Group Consultant based in Tripoli.

Areas of expertise:

Democracy & Governance
Peacebuilding & Conflict Prevention

North Africa

Sunil Hiranandani

With a 20-year international career spanning the US, UK, Middle East, India, China and ASEAN, Sunil brings extensive expertise in business development, corporate/commercial strategy, executive stakeholder engagement, and government affairs. As part of HSBC’s global cadre of International Managers, he held senior leadership roles, including Director & Regional Head of China and ASEAN Strategy, where he led cross-border teams to deliver commercial and policy outcomes across 12 Asian markets. He has also served as a senior advisor within HM Treasury and UK Export Finance, shaping strategies to mobilise private capital into landmark transactions and drive clean / sustainable growth initiatives. An MBA graduate of Georgetown University, Sunil combines corporate leadership with entrepreneurial dynamism to advise large corporates, public sector / NGOs and start-ups in navigating complex global environments and executing internal priorities.

Areas of expertise:

International Banking
Global Financial Markets

China & East Asia

Our Collaboration with Sustain

Sustain has decades of experience working across East Africa to address pressing social and ecological challenges through sustainable, inclusive, and science-driven solutions.

With a rare combination of researchers and practitioners in fields ranging from conservation, ecology, and development to sustainable finance and agriculture, Sustain brings deep sectoral knowledge and strong local connections to the projects we jointly support.