Keith Bristow is Vice Chairman of Arcanum. Mr. Bristow provides leadership at a strategic level and acts as a key decision-maker within the organization, contributing to the development and implementation of the vision for the future of Arcanum.

Mr. Bristow joined Arcanum immediately after his tenure with the U.K. government as the first Director General of the National Crime Agency (NCA), the body charged with leading the U.K.’s fight to cut serious and organized crime.

In addition to his role with Arcanum, Mr. Bristow holds a number of advisory and non-executive positions with large corporations and international law enforcement agencies.

From 2006 to 2015, Mr. Bristow chaired the G8 Law Enforcement Group, improving international coordination and cooperation. In 2014 and 2015, he chaired the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group, a partnership between the U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which seeks to reduce the international threat and impact of organized crime.

As an influential voice on contemporary law enforcement issues, Mr. Bristow has a substantial record of keynote addresses both domestically and internationally. Of special note, in 2012, he delivered the James Smart lecture “Joined up public protection” and in 2014 the Police Foundation lecture “Policing with consent in the digital age”.

Mr. Bristow graduated from the European Top Senior Police Officer Programme and holds a Masters Degree in Organizational Development, a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies and a diploma in Applied Criminology from the University of Cambridge.

Mr. Bristow has been commended on several occasions for bravery, leadership and investigative skill, and has received a number of professional awards including most recently the FBI Director’s Medallion. In June 2008, Her Majesty the Queen honored Mr. Bristow with the Queen’s Police Medal for distinguished police service in her Birthday Honours List.

He is based in the Company’s London offices.

Admiral Dennis Blair comes to Arcanum having overseen 16 intelligence agencies as the senior-most U.S. Intelligence official, the Director of National Intelligence. He has had a long and distinguished career in the U.S. Military, including as the Commander in Chief U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC). He is a renowned expert on Asia Pacific policy and issues.

Admiral Blair spent 34 years in the Navy, culminating in his position as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command (CINCPAC), the largest of the combatant commands. Previously, Admiral Blair was Director of the Joint Staff in the Office of the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was seconded to the National Security Council, under Presidents Carter and Reagan.

Admiral Blair was the first Associate Director for Military Support at the Central Intelligence Agency.

After retiring from the Navy in 2002, Admiral Blair became president and CEO of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a Pentagon-funded research and development center which supports the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and the Intelligence Community.

Admiral Blair has served as director of both public and private corporations, including Tyco International, EDO Corporation (now incorporated into L-3 Inc.) and Iridium LLC (now a public corporation).

He currently presides on the boards of Freedom House, the National Bureau of Asian Research and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

Admiral Blair has been awarded four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, three National Intelligence Distinguished Service medals, and has received decorations from the governments of Japan, Thailand, Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Lieutenant General Robert P. Ashley serves as Senior Advisor to the Chairman, providing strategic advice on all intelligence-related matters for Arcanum and its clients.

He is the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and has over 36 years of leadership, operational and combat experience in intelligence, global security, and risk management.

Lt. Gen. Ashley served as the United States’ highest-ranking military intelligence officer in his capacity as Director of the DIA from 2017 to 2020, responsible to the Secretary of Defense for global security and risk management.

Prior to his appointment to head the DIA, Lt. Gen. Ashley served as the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, where he was the senior advisor to the Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff on all matters of Intelligence, Counterintelligence and Security, and was responsible for the training, equipping, policy and oversight of the Army Intelligence Corps’ 58,000 soldiers and civilians. As part of this role, Lt. Gen. Ashley was Commandant for the Army’s Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca in Arizona, where he trained more than 10,000 soldiers annually in multiple intelligence specialties including cyber, counter-intelligence, analysis, HUMINT, OSINT and reconnaissance collection systems.

Lt. Gen. Ashely’s other key assignments include the Director of Intelligence, United States Army Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC); the Director of Intelligence, United States Central Command (CENTCOM); the Deputy Chief of Staff (Intelligence) – International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan; and Commanding General, the United States Army Intelligence Center of Excellence and Fort Huachuca, AZ.

With decades of active duty behind him, Lt. Gen. Ashley’s previous assignments include Fort Bragg, NC, Washington, D.C.; Fort Gordon, Georgia; MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Izmir, Turkey; and deployments to Operation JOINT FORGE in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Operation IRAQI FREEDOM in Iraq and Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan. He has served at the company, battalion, squadron and brigade levels with combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a squadron, brigade commander and J-2.

Lt. Gen. Ashley commanded the 206th Military Intelligence Battalion in Fort Gordon, Georgia; Intelligence Squadron, Office of Military Support, Washington, DC; and the 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade (Airborne), XVIII Airborne Corps.

Lt. Gen. Ashley received a BA in Political Science from Appalachian State University, an MA in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University (formerly known as the Defense Intelligence College) and an MA in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College. His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal (2OLC), Legion of Merit (1OLC) and Bronze Star Medal (2OLC). In addition, he has also earned the Parachutist Badge, Army Aviation Crewmember Badge, Army Staff Identification Badge and Australian Parachutist Badge.

Field Marshal Charles Ronald Llewelyn Guthrie, Baron Guthrie of Craigiebank, GCB, LVO, OBE, DL, former Chief of the Defence Staff, comes to Arcanum having served as the leading figure in the U.K.’s military. Field Marshal Guthrie provided leadership and direction to the U.K.’s Armed Forces over his long and distinguished career, first with the Welsh Guards in Germany and Northern Ireland, and then with the SAS in the Middle East, Malaysia and East Africa. He was also involved in the NATO Partnership for Peace after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which advised former Soviet satellites such as Poland, Hungary and the Baltic States how to restructure their forces to cooperate with NATO. This culminated in his appointment as Chief of General Staff, and later, his appointment as Chief of Defence Staff.

Lord Guthrie has held a number of senior staff appointments in the Army, including as Commander of the 1st British Corps, the Northern Army Group and the British Army of the Rhine (from 1992 to 1994), before becoming the Chief of the General Staff (from 1994 to 1997) and Chief of the Defense Staff (from 1997 to 2001). He served for ten years as Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps and he was Colonel Commandant of the SAS from 2001 to 2010. He is currently Colonel of the Life Guards, Gold Stick to Her Majesty the Queen.

Since he left the Active List, he has been a Director of NM Rothschild and Sons from 2001 to 2011 and a Director of Sciens Capital, Colt Defense, Petropavlovsk and Gulf Keystone Petroleum in Kurdistan; a Council Member of the International Institute of Strategic Studies; a Visiting Professor and Honorary Fellow of King’s College London University; and Chairman of the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King’s College London.

He is Chairman of the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth and St. John’s Hospice, Action Medical Research and the Federation of London Youth Clubs. He is Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University. Lord Guthrie is a Crossbench Peer.

Honorable John Hannah was Vice President Cheney’s National Security Advisor and headed his Office of National Security Affairs. During President Bush’s first term, he served as the Vice President’s Deputy National Security Advisor for Middle East Affairs.

During the Presidency of William J. Clinton, Mr. Hannah served as Senior Advisor to Secretary of State Warren Christopher, focusing on the Middle East, the Balkans and Russia, as well as the former Soviet Union. He also served in the administration of George H. W. Bush as a member of Secretary of State James A. Baker’s Policy Planning Staff, where he worked extensively on the collapse of the former Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact.

Outside of government, Mr. Hannah has also practiced law, specializing in international dispute resolution. He was also Deputy Director at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Mr. Hannah, a Senior Fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies, often writes and speaks on U.S. foreign policy. His articles have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy Magazine.

James Clad is a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, and in addition to his role at Arcanum, he currently also serves as Senior Advisor for Asia at the Center for Naval Analysis.

Mr. Clad comes to Arcanum with 25 years of senior defense and foreign policy formulation and implementation experience, as well as energy consulting, from broad policy to specific outcomes. He was previously with the National Defense University in Washington, DC, where he mentored defense and security officials from the Maghreb to the Near East, Turkey, the Gulf and South Asia.

During the course of his career, Mr. Clad has held various advisory positions in the U.S. Intelligence Community. As U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs from 2007 to 2009, Mr. Clad crafted defense and security policy in Asia and Australasia, coordinating combatant command relationships for over 25 Asian countries. He negotiated armed services support and logistic agreements with India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka and led Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) negotiations with several major countries.

From 2003 to 2004, Mr. Clad was a National Security Detailee in Iraq. Prior to that he was Senior Counselor at the U.S. Agency for International Development, developing foreign assistance policy for a $15 billion annual aid budget and working to harmonize this with Australian, British, German and Japanese funding for Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iraq, Pakistan and Sudan. From 1997 to 2002, Mr. Clad was Director for Asia-Pacific Energy at Cambridge Research Associates, where he briefed clientele on Asia Pacific energy and risk issues including evolution, personnel and direction of national oil companies. This coincided with a Luce Foundation professorship of South and Southeast Asian Studies, at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Calvin Humphrey is Executive Vice President. He has the primary responsibility of managing client relationships at Arcanum. Mr. Humphrey also provides executive oversight on staffing, program details and communications during projects, thus bringing effectiveness to the flow of work. He joined the Company in 2004, and has held senior management positions within the Company since then.

Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Humphrey had a distinguished career in the U.S. Intelligence Community culminating in several senior leadership functions. He was the Staff Director of the Committee on Homeland Security in the U.S. House of Representatives where he was responsible for developing strategies and policies to protect the U.S. against terrorist attacks, prioritizing risks through cost benefit analysis and managing investments in critical infrastructure protection across all sectors, including both domestic and international land, air and sea transportation.

In 1998, Mr. Humphrey was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as the Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of International Affairs. In this role, Mr. Humphrey developed and led the Department’s efforts to establish energy partnerships with Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. He was also charged with the responsibility of developing and implementing the DOE’s international programs, policies and activities relating to international energy security issues and international technology cooperation.

Prior to his service at the DOE, Mr. Humphrey was the Senior Counsel for the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, U.S. House of Representatives, for 13 years. Mr. Humphrey distinguished himself on the Committee through his focus on counter-terrorism, counter-narcotics and the enhancement of human intelligence capabilities.

In recognition of his distinguished service for the U.S. Intelligence Community, Mr. Humphrey was awarded the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Agency Seal Medallion and the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Trailblazer Award.

He is based in the Company’s London and Washington, DC offices.

Steven Cuevas is Executive Vice President & General Counsel. In that capacity, he is responsible for overseeing the company’s legal work and managing external counsel while maintaining responsibility for Group Corporate Governance and Compliance. He is also responsible for government relations in the U.S. He brings extensive expertise and experience in legal, management, transactional and regulatory functions.

Prior to joining the Group in 2017, he served as Vice President and General Counsel of the North American arm of the French utility giant AREVA, the largest supplier of nuclear and renewables technology products and services in the world. He was responsible for the global restructuring of AREVA, and as a member of the executive committee, oversaw all strategy and management for the company and its subsidiaries. His role also included managing all legal, compliance and risk related aspects of U.S. operations and U.S.-based global transactions.

Mr. Cuevas was instrumental in taking Group revenue growth from $400 million to nearly $1 billion annually for the U.S.-based subsidiary of AREVA. Mr. Cuevas began his career at AREVA in 2009 as Director of Business Development for Strategic Initiatives. In this role, he developed the corporate business plan for the North American market, developed requirements for annual sales to justify capital investment in the market, identified potential supply chain partners and areas of supply needs, developed the opportunity pipeline and assessed overall market viability.

Prior to working at AREVA, in 2003 Mr. Cuevas was appointed by the Administration of George W. Bush as a senior official at the Department of Energy (DOE), where he spearheaded the creation and management of a new program that reviewed the national security implications of foreign investment. After being promoted to Director of Investment Security at the DOE, Mr. Cuevas created and mobilized the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), enabling the DOE to meet national security requirements created by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act.

He is based in the Company’s Washington, DC offices.

Anna Popova is Executive Vice President for Corporate Strategy and New Ventures at the Group level. In that capacity, she sits on Arcanum’s board and management committee. She is responsible for developing and managing the Group’s long-term strategic planning and overseeing operations for all active projects. She actively manages investor relations, developing and preserving stakeholder value and she is responsible for the Group’s New Ventures team. Reporting directly to the CEO she is also responsible for management of effective workflow at Group level and integration with key operating companies.

Ms. Popova joined RJI Capital (a subsidiary of Magellan Holdings) as Vice President, New Ventures in 2009, and subsequently was promoted to Senior Vice President for Strategic Planning in 2012, where she led the company’s efforts in new ventures, and developing new revenue lines for future growth.

Ms. Popova has nearly 20 years of expertise in strategic and management consultancy, business transformation, and international business management, having gained a wealth of corporate and commercial experience while working with some of the world’s largest multinational firms.

Prior to joining RJI Capital, Ms. Popova worked at one of the leading management consultancies, PA Consulting, where she advised multinational corporates and U.K. government entities in the areas of growth strategies, business transformation, strategic communications, stakeholder management and corporate development. During her tenure there, she led a variety of successful projects, ranging from the development of a new strategy to the implementation of one of the most significant communications and stakeholder relations campaigns in the U.K.

Ms. Popova’s previous clients have included the BBC, BP, Thomson Reuters, the U.K. government and various multinational corporations.

In addition to her strategic advisory experience, Ms. Popova has held a number of other positions, including a strategic business development role for oil super major Royal Dutch Shell. During her time at Shell Downstream, she advised the Company’s senior management on new market entry strategies and managed stakeholder engagement for the largest transformation program in Shell Retail. During her role at Shell, Ms. Popova also gained experience in brand development, communications and reputation management.

She is based in the Company’s London offices.

Christopher M. Sanders is Senior Vice President & Director of Government Operations. He is responsible for the design and delivery of large U.S. Federal Government contracts as well as directing the Integrated Solutions team in large overseas projects. He also plays an active role in client development and project origination. As a senior executive, he works closely with the rest of the Executive Leadership team to drive operational excellence and business development across the full spectrum of Arcanum service propositions. He reports directly to the Chairman.

Prior to joining Arcanum, Mr. Sanders was a Principal Executive Consultant serving US Government clients at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Defense (DoD), where he provided management, technical and operational expertise to international, federal, state, and local programs and deployable assets that support counter-nuclear terrorism, counter-smuggling and emergency response capability to enhance national security through collaboration with inter-agency and international partners.

His other private sector experience includes management-level roles at Dyncorp and SAIC. He was Deputy Director and a Senior Strategic Advisor to the Senior Advisor Group to the Commanding General (CG), Joint Headquarters-Advisor Team (JHQ-AT), Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I). In this role, he advised the CG and Senior Military and Civilian Advisors on all matters involving current and future operational and organizational planning in the CENTCOM Area of Responsibility, including staff actions, strategic and operational planning, scheduling, force management, and coordination of daily operations.

At SAIC, he served as a Security Management Consultant supporting the US Customs and Border Patrol, where he led efforts to evaluate and make recommendation for improvement to government security policies and operational plans and evaluated the significance of intelligence reports regarding terrorist and transnational criminal organizational threats to USG personnel and organizations. Prior to that, he worked as a Senior Policy Analyst on Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) for the US Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.

His career started at the Metropolitan Police Department, of Washington, DC, where he held the positions of Lieutenant, Special Operations Division and of Sergeant, Special Emphasis Violent Crime Unit. As Lieutenant, he commanded the unit providing counter-terrorism and CBRNE support to senior government officials including the executive branch and senior foreign officials on domestic and international operations. He led units during tactical operations, special events, mass demonstrations, and exercises. He developed field training exercises, directed comprehensive training of officers, and provided counter-terrorism, field operations, and tactics training to local and international law enforcement and security forces both domestically and internationally.

He is based in the Company’s Washington, DC offices.

 

James Taliento is Senior Vice President & Director of Cyber Operations. He leads the design and delivery of strategic and innovative cyber operations with the use of leading-edge cyber risk management practices.

Mr. Taliento is a national expert in adversarial modeling and cyber threat intelligence, and has previously successfully applied a diverse skillset and his proprietary tools for both private and government clients. In addition, he is a passionate leader with a strong ability to build both business and technical teams to achieve crucial company enterprise security objectives.

He has expertise in offensive operations including incident response, penetration testing, social engineering, threat hunting, and adversarial simulation. He is an expert in relevant adversarial objectives (Advanced Persistent Threats), playbook development, attack chaining and automation. He has implemented deception technology as well as developed deceptive platforms to detect, attribute, and disrupt clandestine adversarial operations. He has also developed counterintelligence for further identification, increasing confidence in threat attribution.

Mr. Taliento developed a robust investigative architecture to support intelligence-driven adversarial discovery, threat detection, and analytical platform and has also developed proprietary intellectual property and applied scientific security models to develop comprehensive attack threats relevant to specific industries. He has developed mature enhanced threat hunting capabilities for organizations seeking to develop proactive incident response capabilities.

In addition to his direct work in the industry, Mr. Taliento holds an Adjunct Faculty position at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. He is a sought-after speaker for cybersecurity conferences.

Mr. Taliento holds several industry recognized certifications including the CISSP, CEH, GCIH, GPEN, CISCO Cyber, SMSP, GCIA, GSEC, GMON, and GCFA. He received his MSc in Information Security and Assurance with a concentration in Forensic Investigation and Incident Response Team Management from Norwich University.

He is based in the Company’s Washington, DC offices.

Vice President & General Manager, Financial Intelligence Unit

Petra Sipe is Vice President & General Manager of Arcanum’s Financial Intelligence Unit. She is responsible for leading, developing and managing client work relating to financial crimes, and analysis with a particular focus on forensic investigations, anti-money laundering, terrorist financing, asset tracing and recovery operations, sanctions, enhanced due diligence and business intelligence. She reports directly to the Chairman.

She has nearly 20 years of experience in the financial sector, with a particular specialization in financial crime. She has extensive experience in the areas of international and domestic financial systems, financial compliance, as well as business development and management.

Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Sipe was Assistant Director of Forensic, Business Intelligence Services at Deloitte, based out of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In that capacity, she managed both government and commercial clients on a wide array of matters related to anti-corruption, anti-money laundering, sanctions, enhanced due diligence, business intelligence, asset tracing and forensic data mining on issues related to the MENA region. She was previously situated in Deloitte’s Washington, DC office, most recently serving as Senior Manager of Forensic, Anti-Money Laundering Practice. During that time she managed a staff of 30, focusing on AML, forensic investigations, forensic data mining and cross-border asset tracing investigations. She was responsible for researching and utilizing analytical tools to provide finished products on commercial due diligence, money laundering, proliferation schemes, and terrorist financing schemes in the U.S., the UAE and other jurisdictions.

Previously, she was an Investment Analyst at Sol Capital Management Company, an international financial advisory firm, where she managed the firm’s relationship with investment companies and conducted all of the firm’s domestic and offshore securities trading ($1.4 billion assets under management). She led business transformation efforts that promoted a greater flow of information between team members and resulted in improved efficiency and accuracy of the investment process.

She is based in the Company’s Dubai, UAE offices.

Brigadier General Joseph DiBartolomeo is Vice President of Mission Support & Training at Arcanum. He advises Arcanum’s clients on counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, military security, planning and development, military doctrine development and special operations training. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from his distinguished career in the military.

Prior to joining Arcanum in 2012, he was the Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces Command.

Brigadier General DiBartolomeo has 36 years of experience in the military, where he served in several high-level positions, including Commander of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Deputy for the Office of the Defense Representative for Pakistan. Following his departure from the military, he served as the special advisor to the Director of CTTSO (Countering Terrorism Technology Support Office) of ASD/SOLIC (Assistant Secretary of Defense/Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict).

He has also been the recipient of a number of awards and decorations in recognition of his outstanding service to the U.S. Army, including the Legion of Merit, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

He is based in the Company’s Washington, DC offices.

Adam Irwin is Director of Global Investigations. He is responsible for managing Arcanum’s Global Investigations Group, including all areas of intelligence collection and analysis as well as supporting executive leadership in client engagement and establishing operational best practices within the organization, including project management and quality assurance of deliverables.

Mr. Irwin brings a wealth of expertise and experience, which he has gained throughout his twelve-year career in law enforcement, having worked at both strategic and tactical levels. Prior to joining Arcanum, Mr. Irwin was a Senior Manager with the U.K.’s lead law enforcement agency, the National Crime Agency (NCA), where he provided strategic leadership to projects and operations using an in-depth knowledge of threats and opportunities in the NCA’s domestic and international operating environment. He was also responsible for leading the design and delivery of new intelligence and operations capabilities as part of the Agency’s intelligence-led, digitally-driven Transformation Program. In addition, he was responsible for liaising with foreign law enforcement agencies on behalf of the British government.

Mr. Irwin’s work included establishing a new intelligence operating model for the NCA to optimize the exploitation and sharing of all-source intelligence, to drive effective operational interventions, to better understand tactical activity and consequent strategic impact as well as to close the gap between information and intelligence gathered in the field, central exploitation and analysis. He also worked on a national law enforcement campaign, where he fielded a Concept Capability Demonstrator to realize previously unseen intelligence insights. Mr. Irwin has particular expertise in digital intelligence and has previously led work in the NCA to transform intelligence practices and to deliver capabilities, training and tradecraft, as well as working practices to maximize the value of internet-related information and other data-rich collection sources in the fight against serious and organized crime. In 2017, he was appointed to the judging panel of the U.K.'s inaugural National Digital Intelligence and Investigation Awards.

Mr. Irwin holds a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Police Leadership and Management, awarded with Merit by the University of Leicester and a Certificate in Legal Studies (Cert. Leg. Stud.) from the Open University. He is a Fellow of the Westminster Abbey Institute having previously been selected for enrollment in the Institute's 2015 – 2016 “Fellows Programme” – a unique personal development initiative for aspiring senior leaders in public service with the potential to achieve high office. Mr. Irwin was mentored throughout the program by former Head of the British army, General Lord Richard Dannatt.

He is based in the Company’s London offices.