S4GEO Forms Expert Board to Professionalize Geopolitical Business Risk

NEW YORK, NY – April 09, 2026 – In a move signaling the growing urgency for businesses to master global complexities, the non-profit organization S4GEO today announced the formation of its inaugural Advisory Board. The newly established board brings together a formidable roster of senior leaders from the corporate, financial, academic, and consulting worlds to advance the practice of applied geopolitics.

The organization, which launched in late 2025, aims to bridge what its leaders see as a critical gap between high-level geopolitical analysis and concrete business decision-making. The advisory board is tasked with strengthening best practices, cultivating new methodologies, and promoting the integration of geopolitical intelligence within corporate and investment communities.

Rodger Baker, a veteran geopolitical strategist formerly with the Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE, will serve as Chairman of the Advisory Board. "I'm excited to see our board taking shape, bringing together a wide array of experience in both producing and using geopolitical intelligence in the business world," Baker stated in the announcement. "This diverse group will help forward S4GEO's mission of bridging the gap between analytical frameworks and business decision-making, improving the field of applied geopolitics and assisting businesses in navigating a complex world system."

A New Push to Professionalize Global Risk

The creation of S4GEO and its high-powered board comes at a time when geopolitical risk has firmly moved from a niche concern to a C-suite priority. While many companies acknowledge the threat, a significant challenge remains in operationalizing this awareness. The organization's own research, including its December 2025 white paper, "Awareness of Geopolitical Exposure," highlights the widespread uncertainty within industries on how to define, measure, and proactively manage these evolving risks.

S4GEO positions itself not as another vendor selling intelligence reports, but as a neutral forum—a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to elevating the entire field. Its mission is to be a collaborative hub where providers and consumers of geopolitical analysis can work together to build a more robust and standardized discipline. This unique non-commercial approach distinguishes it from established for-profit consultancies like Eurasia Group and Oxford Analytica, allowing it to focus on developing shared industry standards and fostering a community of practice.

The organization’s focus on cultivating methodologies aims to move the corporate world beyond reactive crisis management. By developing and promoting structured frameworks, S4GEO seeks to empower businesses to embed forward-looking geopolitical foresight into their core strategic planning, investment cycles, and supply chain designs, fostering greater resilience and competitiveness.

Decoding Tomorrow's Business Challenges

The composition of the inaugural nine-member board itself serves as a map of the interconnected challenges facing global enterprise today. Rather than a homogenous group of analysts, the board represents a cross-section of the very functions that grapple with geopolitical fallout on a daily basis.

Expertise in supply chain resilience, a critical vulnerability exposed in recent years, is represented by Kate Gerdes of Philips, an executive leading the company's integrated supply chain strategy, and Punit Oza, founder of Maritime NXT and a leading voice in global shipping and trade flows. Their presence underscores the tangible impact of geopolitics on the physical movement of goods and the urgent need for strategies like localization and tariff mitigation.

The financial and investment implications of global politics are addressed by Matt Gertken, Chief Geopolitical Strategist at the influential investment research firm BCA Research. His role highlights the direct link between geopolitical events and market volatility, a connection that investors are increasingly compelled to understand and price into their models.

Bridging the worlds of theory and practice are several members with deep roots in both academia and high-stakes advisory work. Steven L. Johnston brings over 30 years of experience from his role at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and as a professor of political risk at American University. Similarly, Scott Siler, founder of the consultancy Exergy International, also teaches political risk analysis at The George Washington University. Their involvement points to a concerted effort to ground the board's work in both academic rigor and real-world application.

Looking beyond immediate crises, the board incorporates expertise in long-term strategic foresight through Rudolph Lohmeyer, a Senior Partner at Kearney who leads its global foresight services and previously advised the U.S. State Department. The integration of cutting-edge technology is represented by Sam Olsen, Chief Analyst at the intelligence firm Sibylline, who specializes in using AI and data modeling to generate actionable geopolitical insights.

The Non-Profit Advantage in a For-Profit Field

S4GEO's strategic choice to operate as a nonpartisan 501(c)3 organization is central to its mission. In a field where analysis can be influenced by commercial interests, this non-profit status is designed to build trust and ensure objectivity. By positioning itself as a neutral convener, the organization can bring together otherwise competing consultancies, their corporate clients, and policymakers to collaborate on shared challenges.

This model allows S4GEO to focus on public-interest goals, such as creating open-source methodologies and promoting educational initiatives, without the pressure of quarterly earnings or client acquisition targets. The ability to attract philanthropic funding and a mission-driven community may enable it to tackle foundational issues that for-profit entities might overlook, such as establishing a common lexicon for geopolitical risk or training the next generation of analysts.

The formation of this board is a clear statement that an ad-hoc, reactive approach to geopolitical risk is no longer sufficient. By assembling a diverse team of seasoned practitioners and thought leaders, S4GEO is making a deliberate effort to build the infrastructure for a more mature, professional, and integrated discipline. The success of this initiative could fundamentally shape how global businesses understand and navigate the turbulent landscape of the 21st century.