The NorthPoint International team has been tried and tested, delivering solutions grounded in real-world situations and best practices.
Who We Are
With over 50 years’ combined experience, the founding partners of NorthPoint International have worked at the highest level of hotel security operations, responsible for over 8,000 hotels in 100 countries – including high risk locations.
We understand the complexities of the hospitality business, from independent operations to the various forms of brand affiliation, and can provide bespoke support no matter where you sit in the matrix. In addition to our operational and corporate experience from the world of hotels and hospitality, the team also has expert knowledge gained through service in the military, intelligence, and diplomatic services.
Outside the hospitality sector, NorthPoint International also provides capacity-building in more specialist fields, including cyberterrorism, security intelligence operations, surveillance, human intelligence, and hostile surveillance disruption. Our partners have extensive experience in building the public and private partnerships necessary in a complex and challenging world.
Approach
Security should not be a one-size-fits-all exercise. NorthPoint International’s approach is intelligence-led and threat-based, ensuring that security is delivered cost-effectively to match the current and potential threats, in line with the local context and culture. NorthPoint International also:
- Considers physical and cyber threats jointly: being mindful that both are increasingly becoming merged and that consequently, physical security and cyber security need to be closely aligned to be effective.
- Seeks to deliver security through the intelligent blend of People, Procedures and Technology to provide efficient security defense.
- Is highly flexible and responsive to the client’s business model and budget. We pride ourselves on working closely with clients to build highly effective security and intelligence programs.
- Delivers services that enable clients to build capacity and self-sufficiency.
Our Team
NorthPoint International partners have previously served in the public sector in roles with the military, intelligence, and diplomatic services, so we understand public and private sectors and are uniquely positioned to facilitate understanding, cooperation, and working to shared security objectives. We have experts with extensive experience in combating and responding to cybercrime and related serious and organised crime; NorthPoint International have experts in designing and delivering security, crisis management, and resilience training. Engagement of NorthPoint International gives clients the services of five highly experienced consultants working on their project but may also deploy other specialists as required.
Managing Partner, Senior Consultant
David is the Managing Partner responsible for product development, delivering imaginative and effective services combining his extensive military and commercial experiences.
Serving as a British Army Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Officer for 27 years, David filled a range of roles, including specialist intelligence deployments to Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He held several senior training positions delivering a range of specialist intelligence, intelligence, and counter- intelligence training programs. He was awarded an MBE in 2008.
David joined InterContinental Hotels Group in 2008 as the Director of Global Threats, responsible for designing, implementing, and operating a Global Protective Intelligence program to identify and manage threats to the organization’s hotels, guests, visitors, employees, corporate infrastructure, and reputation. He worked closely with a wide range of public security and intelligence agencies. Promoted to Chief Security Officer in 2011, David designed and delivered global security and resiliency programs and training for 5,000 hotels and 15 business support offices in over 100 countries. Specifically, he was responsible for Threat Intelligence, Cycber Crime Intelligence, Security Risk Management Systems & Performance Management, Crisis Management, Fraud Risk Management, Security Investigations, Travel Risk Management, and Security Marketing.
David is a natural problem solver who enjoys working in dynamic and challenging environments; he is comfortable with uncertainty. He has a track record of capability development, implementation, and operation.
Managing Partner, Senior Consultant
Formerly Vice President Corporate Safety and Security, Paul had a 31-year career with Radisson Hotel Group. His work took him to over 60 countries in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia. He oversaw development of corporate and operational training programs including Crisis Management, Travel Safety, Challenging Environment Pre-deployments, and General Manager Certification.
His collaboration with government and non-government organizations includes contributing to the Global Counter Terrorism Forum Antalya Memorandum on protection of soft targets, the OSAC white paper on best practices for crisis management and evacuation as well as representing the European hotel industry organization in the Operator’s Forum of the EU Action Plan for Improved Protection of Public Spaces. In June 2019, he addressed the UN Security Council Counter Terrorism Committee on local engagement and public private partnership for protection of soft targets.
Managing Partner, Senior Consultant
Michelle excels in designing highly effective and comprehensive emergency response, security, and crisis management programs for complex facilities. With a background in franchise operations and two decades of experience helping Fortune 500 clients integrate their security protocols, emergency response guidance, and crisis management systems across a wide variety of facilities, Michelle brings a holistic perspective to the development of operationally useful programs and materials.
From store level emergency to central security operations center response guides to crisis management, Michelle’s programs and plans are designed to be usable and scalable across global organizations. Michelle also specializes in the use of technology to reduce cost and development of support tools for smartphones and tablets.
As Program Lead for the creation of a resiliency program for Facebook’s data centers, Michelle developed and tested teams from diverse geographical and professional backgrounds.
She worked closely with cross-functional teams representing security, facilities, EHS, ITDR, data security, and culinary teams to build a complete program. Michelle conducted over 70 tabletop exercises as part of this engagement.
In addition to her role as a Managing Partner for NPI, Michelle is the CEO of White Deer Group.
Michelle speaks frequently about business resiliency to industry groups.
Managing Partner, Senior Consultant
Robert graduated in modern languages and pursued post-grad MBA studies in London, leading to initial employment as a management consultant in process engineering based in Sweden. Following reserve service in the British Army, Robert was invited to apply for the UK Foreign Service and spent over 25 years in UK government service, where he specialized in national security, intelligence and stabilization operations. Much of this time was spent overseas in high risk and conflict environments, including Sierra Leone and Afghanistan.
Robert is also an expert in resolving kidnap, extortion and hijack incidents and spent five years within a leading global response unit, with frequent deployments in connection with Somali and West African piracy, as well as complex politically motivated kidnap cases in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
He became an early practitioner of cyber threat intelligence and OSINT and has an extensive background in a threat advisory role for InterContinental Hotels Group and Control Risks Group.
Alongside his work for NorthPoint, Robert is chairman of the Loyalty Security Association fraud intelligence group and advises on the next generation of cyber intelligence tools for application within government agencies.
Robert advises NorthPoint clients on cyber crime management, fraud prevention/investigation and capacity building.
Managing Partner, Senior Consultant
Prior to his career in the private sector, Mark served as a Special Agent in the US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). As a career Foreign Service Officer with over 20 years of extensive international security and law enforcement experience, he has a broad background managing complex international security programs and overseas operations, including liaison and technical assistance to local police and security officials. He has considerable experience in specialized in anti- crime and counter-terrorism operations. His DSS background includes extensive overseas experience and in-country resident assignments as the Diplomatic Security Attaché (RSO) in Frankfurt, Kuwait, Ankara, Beirut, and Moscow.
Subsequently, Mark was the Vice President for Global Security Operations with Hyatt Hotels and Resorts. He served in this role for more than a decade and was responsible for the strategic management of the company’s security programs and initiatives, and for all elements of security operations across the company to ensure the protection of the company’s guests, facilities, assets, operations and brands at over 750 hotels in more than 65 countries around the world. He has extensive practical knowledge and experience in the hospitality sector.
Prior to joining Hyatt Hotels, he was the Senior Director of Global Security Operations for Kraft Foods. In this role he was responsible for the security operations of the largest food company in the United States, and third largest global food company, to safeguard more than 100,000 company employees working at 3800 facilities in 148 countries around the world. He has broad knowledge and experience across the manufacturing and supply chain sectors.
In his role, Mark developed a comprehensive security awareness and traveler safety program to protect employees traveling to high risk destinations (e.g. raw materials acquisitions in Africa and South America), or who worked in high threat environments (such as in Mindanao, Philippines, Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Surabaya, Indonesia, etc. and more than 38 such locations around the world).
Before joining Kraft Foods, Mark was the Director of Global Strategic Assessments and Awareness Programs for Altria Corporate Services, Inc. (parent company for Philip Morris USA, Philip Morris International, Kraft Foods North America, Kraft Foods International, and Philip Morris Credit Corp). During his tenure he was responsible for managing the Department’s global security threat assessments and employee Security Awareness programs across each of the operating companies. Mark was also a Senior Management Consultant in the Government Consulting Services division of Electronic Data Services Corp. In addition to managing multiple consulting engagements, primarily in Business Process Reengineering (BPR) he was responsible for development of the Emergency Management & Services business line within the GCS. He has comprehensive experience designing strategic management systems, including technology architectures to support service deliveries and strategic systems integration. Additionally, has a broad background in organizational design and development, organizational logistics, and change management.
Senior Consultant, Environmental Health and Safety
David Osborn is a professionally qualified health and safety and food safety subject matter expert with extensive knowledge and skills of safety and over 30 years’ experience of safety management. With a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Technology and Management David is a Chartered Environmental Health Practitioner and Chartered Safety Practitioner. He worked in a regulatory role with safety authorities in the UK before joining the hospitality industry where he has experience in management systems for safety, property auditing and addressing safety issues in a pragmatic way.
David was most recently leading Global Safety for one of the largest hotel companies in the world setting the global safety strategy, policies, standards and programs for hotel and employee safety; the measurement and compliance approach to global safety policies and standards in collaboration with key stakeholders; reviewing external intelligence, internal insights and key indicators to identify emerging/evolving safety issues; tracking and reporting on the safety management system effectiveness to IHGs Executive Committee and senior leaders as well as providing subject matter expertise.
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