MALMGREN
STRATEGIC
INSTITUTE
Developing the optimal blueprint for the path ahead...
The Malmgren Strategic Institute (MSI) is an intellectual hub with practical applications.
Our principal, Dr. Harald B. Malmgren is known for his ability to take the complexities of human societies and distil the essential lessons across a comprehensive range of factors, avoiding the trap of narrow siloed thinking so prevalent in today’s world.
With these insights in mind one can begin to glean the path ahead, and instead of constantly reacting to change with no cohesive strategy, one can anticipate it and develop a range of solutions ahead of time.
It is our mission to deliver insights and advice required for devising an optimal strategic position.
We work with policy makers and business leaders who are seeking a broader set of perspectives and a depth of wisdom that only real-world experience can deliver.
We aim to deliver lasting change by helping to inspire and educate tomorrow's leaders in both the civic and commercial spheres.
About
Us
Standing on the shoulders of giants...
Meet Dr. Malmgren...
Dr. Malmgren has had the benefit of working with some of the brightest intellects across the military, geopolitical and economic spheres over the years and we at the Malmgren Strategic Institute (MSI) work to harness the many lessons Dr. Malmgren has gathered over time. We aim to distil these priceless insights into actionable 'blueprints' for a deeper and broader level of understanding.
Dr. Malmgren has been identified as one of the 100 most influential geopolitical experts in the world.
His public service started out in the defence area in 1962 working under the Kennedy administration on the Anti-Ballistic Missile problem, the defence of NATO's central front & broader weapons systems analysis.
Dr. Malmgren is a true scholar and has held the position of Ambassador, international trade negotiator, senior aide to the US congress and four US Presidents. He has been a trusted advisor to foreign leaders and CEOs of multinational corporations across all sectors and is an avid reader and a frequent author of articles and white papers on matters pertaining to geoeconomic, political and security affairs.
He graduated B.A. summa cum laude from Yale University in 1957 and was awarded Yale’s Howland Fellowship for study and travel abroad. During his time at Yale he was selected to work as a Research Assistant to Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling during his work on ‘The Strategy of Conflict’, a ground-breaking work that brought the frameworks of game theory to bare on economics and the social sciences. Upon graduation from Yale, Dr. Malmgren was invited to study at Oxford University under the Nobel Price winner Sir John Hicks. During this period he also spent time at Harvard and eventually received numerous awards for his academic work and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford.
Upon completion of his studies he was appointed to the positions of Professor at both the College of Engineering and the College of Arts & Sciences at Cornell University. But, he was soon invited to join the Kennedy Administration where he was he was appointed to the Institute for Defence Analysis, where he acted as special advisor to the Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara, while serving as Head of the Economics Group of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and as an advisor on the Weapons Systems Evaluation Group (WSEG) at the Pentagon. He was deeply involved in the management of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Dr. Malmgren was then recruited to serve in the role as a member of the senior staff of the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), and as special advisor to the National Security Council in the Executive Office of the President.
In 1965 he was appointed the first Assistant Special Representative for Trade Negotiations. He then went onto become the Director of Research at the Overseas Development Council between 1969 and 1971. During this time he also acted as a Special Advisor to the Senate Finance Committee.
In 1971, President Nixon asked Dr. Malmgren to serve as a special advisor on international economic policy and appointed him as the Principal Deputy US Trade Representative with Ambassador rank, to function as the chief US trade negotiator. During this time he was charged with creating the framework for a Transpacific economic cooperation organisation.
In 1973 at the behest of President Nixon and French President Pompidou, Dr. Malmgren worked directly with French Finance Minister Giscard d’Estaing to devise and subsequently launch the Tokyo Round of world trade negotiations leading to the formation of the modern GATT/WTO system.
In 1974 he worked with the Senate Finance Committee to draft the historically innovative “fast track trade negotiations” provision which became embodied in the Trade Act of 1974. After Gerald Ford took office in 1974, Dr. Malmgren was asked to add to his activities the role of Special Advisor on global economic and security issues to the President.
After leaving government, he was appointed as a Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. He also continued serving as an adviser to the Senate Finance Committee in 1976.
In 1976-77 He returned to teaching as Professor of Business and Public Management at George Washington University. This has been followed by a number of roles in the private sector and more recently a role as an advisor on economics and strategy to global leaders.
Dr. Malmgren’s career is a testament to his intellectual curiosity, real world operational effectiveness, and dedication to public service.
He is the human embodiment of the ancient Greek saying; “A society grows great only when people plant trees whose fruit they shall never enjoy and whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” As such he is the inspiration for everything we do at the Institute.
Today, through the MSI, his wealth of knowledge is available to business and political leaders, who can benefit from his deep institutional memory and long experience.
The MSI commitment...
The Malmgren Strategic Institute (MSI) is an association of global thinkers, from different ‘walks of life’ and different geographical locations, who offer unique insights and strategic solutions for understanding and harnessing global trends and events.
We are dedicated to the mission of providing global leaders – public and private – with the tools and insights required for making informed decisions required for navigating the evolving geoeconomic realities.
We aim to help shape the conversation on how to build a framework for a better future.
It has been well said that a society can only become great if old men and women are prepared to plant trees who’s shade and fruit they shall never get to enjoy.
We are committed to 'planting and nurturing forests' for future generations, be it by playing an active role in developing strategic thought and the principles for optimal long term strategic planning as well as helping educate the next generation of leaders.
Our Approach...
Predicting the future is hard. However, one can prepare for the future. There is an old nautical saying that; "The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators." At MSI we work hard every day to make sure we are helping to create 'the ablest navigators.'
Forecasting the future is a fraught enterprise. However, one can discern probable paths and establish milestones to watch for to either confirm or disconfirm ones thesis. One can learn from the past. Change is not an event, it is a process and as such by identifying and observing the steps of a process one can discern indications of changes to come and the related probabilities of them unfolding. With this one can be better prepared for an uncertain future.
You can’t know everything. Not everything can be fitted into neat boxes, human activity is complex. In most cases the best one can strive for is to get a sense of the underlying momentum and develop contingencies for the various potential scenarios with related actionable strategic plans.
That is what we seek to provide - a sense of where we are, how we arrived here and what may come. The lessons of history, decades of experience at the heart of decision making, an understanding of the inherent limitations and opportunities defined by permanent and enduring factors such as geography and demographics inform our thinking as well as monitoring key global systems, institutions, cultural aspects and that historically proven catalyst for rapid change in the affairs of mankind - technology.
Our Solutions...
Lessons from history for the path ahead...
We produce timely and event driven reports on the past, present and future global developments in geopolitics, macro economics, technology & the military spheres.
Our aim is to make people think and to sow the seeds for ongoing global conversations on the key topics of our time in order to produce clear and constructive roadmaps for the paths ahead.
We heed the lessons of history and build our analytical frameworks on the foundations of over 60 years of Dr. Harald B. Malmgren’s efforts across all areas of global governance and industry.
The search for knowledge and better systems continues. In the larger scope of the long arch of history, the journey has just begun.
Join the conversation at our special MSI events – Such as our regular Under the Tree Sessions for global leaders and our Seed Corn Gatherings, focused on the leaders of tomorrow with the aim of engaging the next generations in matters pertaining to strategic thought.
Our team is also available for speaking engagements if we see a shared mission and an opportunity to expand the conversation to new audiences.
Who we work with...
Our advisory business is available to:
Governments.
Public Agencies & Institutions.
Educational Institutions.
Private sector organisations.
Corporations.
Institutional & Accredited Investors.
Tailored research work...
We live in complex world, governments, public institutions, corporations and investors are faced with much uncertainty.
Harness our team to provide unique perspectives and answers. We tailor our research for your benefit.
Change is not an event. It is a process. As such we can work to identify and pinpoint the steps involved in a given process so you can be prepared for potential changes that will affect the positioning of your nation, your business, your policy or your proposed plan.
Contact Us to explore how we may help you see further and prepare for the path ahead.
Advisory services...
We can work directly with decision makers in the public and private sphere in a highly customised and private manner.
When making big decisions one can benefit from a trusted advisor with decades of experience across both matters of government and business affairs.
With our intricate understanding of 'The Way It Works' we can bring a comprehensive set of insights and solutions to the table and engage you and your team in a constructive dialogue on how to navigate the uncharted seas facing the world today.
Contact Us to learn more about how we work with global leaders and ensure they have the tools to make the optimal decisions.
Insightful conversations...
Attend our exclusive events for strong insights and to interact with our team and other likeminded global leaders.
We host 'Under the Tree' events for small gatherings doing deep dives on global trends in an informal format. This is a perfect setting for real conversations about pertinent matters and to network with your global peers and sector experts.
We also offer interactive web-events for open Q&As with our global team.
Members of our team can also be made available for speaking engagements at events which we feel match our broader objectives for promoting an open dialogue on key challenges and opportunities.
Contact Us to inquire about availability at our upcoming events or to book time with our team.
A diverse team with a focused mission...
The Founding Partners...
Dr. Harald B. Malmgren
Senior Partner
Dr. Malmgren is a scholar, an US Ambassador, international negotiator, senior aide to the US Congress and four US Presidents and generations of international leaders. He is an advisor to political leaders and CEOs of multinational corporations across the world and a frequent author of articles and white papers on matters
pertaining to global economic, political and security affairs.
He is known for his ability to take the complexities of human societies and distil the essential lessons. He helps people avoid the trap of narrow and siloed thinking that has become so prevalent today.
Dr. Pippa Malmgren
Special Advisor
Dr. Pippa Malmgren served President George W. Bush in the White House as Special Assistant to the President and on The National Economic Council. She co-founded H Robotics, a British firm that makes aerial drones and autonomous marine and terrain vehicles for industrial use. Her system has been shortlisted for the 2020 National Technology Awards. She serves on the Drone/UAV Committee of The British Standards Institute. Before joining the White House, she ran the Bankers Trust Asset Management business in Asia and was then appointed as the Chief Currency Strategist there. She was then named the Deputy Head of Global Strategy at UBS.
Her book, The Leadership Lab, was named Business Book of the Year and Best Book on Leadership in 2019. It won the International Press Award 2020 for the Best Book on Leadership. She is the author of two other books: Geopolitics for Investors (2015) and Signals: How Everyday Signs Help Us Navigate the World’s Turbulent Economy a crowd-funded 4x Amazon best-seller (2016). She has been named one of the Fifty Top Inspiring Women in the UK and one of the Top 100 in Tech by @WATC_WeAreTech and longlisted by Computer Weekly as a Most Influential Women in Tech for 2019 and 2020. She serves as a judge on The Queen’s Enterprise Business Awards and was a member of the Board of Directors for The Department for International Trade in the UK from 2017-2019. She is a Senior Associate Fellow of RUSI.
She has a BA from Mount Vernon College and an M.Sc. and PhD from LSE. She completed the Harvard Program on National Security. She lectures at Sandhurst and the Duke Fuqua Global Executive MBA Program and has lectured at the U Texas Austin and INSEAD. She has served on many boards including at MIT. She gave the graduation address at the London School of Economics in 2013 and again in 2016.
Mr. Sune Hojgaard Sorensen
Partner
Mr. Hojgaard Sorensen is the founder of Librarium Associates, an independent research facility focused on geopolitical and macro-economic trends. In his world renowned work he draws on: his varied experiences living around the world, his insatiable intellectual curiosity, a driven pursuit of variant perceptions from a wide array of sources, a deep bench of diverse contacts across continents and industries and over fifteen years of experience in the investment industry in a multitude of roles and across asset classes.
He has a record of consistently being able to provide unique insights that frame path probabilities, developments and future trends into clear and defined ideas that in turn enable sophisticated investors to make superior decisions.
Mr. Hojgaard Sorensen is an Advisory Board Member of the BFI Capital Group in Switzerland. He works with this distinguished group of individuals on matters pertaining to identifying global risks and opportunities and distilling investable insights for the development of long term investment strategies for a select group of accredited investors. He is also an Independent Asset Management Partner with the group's asset management arm, BFI Infinity AG.
Mr. Eduardo Galiano
Partner
Mr. Galiano is a truly global operator, splitting his time between Asia and the US and anywhere in between. He is an active player in the global Venture Capital, with a focus on technology, particularly cyber security. He has studied cyber security systems and systems dynamics at MIT under Professor Jay Forrester.
In addition to his work as an active VC investor, he is also an active mentor to the businesses he has an interest in. He has a proven track record of creating long-term value in several economic sectors and helping to develop great corporate leaders along the way.
He is a former management consultant and big data specialist for McKinsey & Company Inc. He has been the director for a South East Asian commodity trading company with a focus on the agricultural and precious metals segments.
He has been an advisor to current and former CEOs and the Chairman of major commodity exchanges in North America and Asia focusing on risk management and big data analysis.
Mr. Galiano brings a diverse range of competencies to the table and is equally comfortable in the boardroom of multi-national corporations as he is going deep into the back country of South East Asia and South America in pursuit of gaining the all important informational edge.
A Deep Global Bench...
In the world of sports a 'deep bench' signifies a team with a large group of very talented players. At MSI we can draw on a deep global bench of sector and geographical specialists in the academic, public service and corporate sectors.
Our research work is collaborative by design and we always seek to bring diverse perspectives into the conversation.
With this team of teams approach we can go as deep and as broad as we wish on any subject that has captured our interest as well as bouncing our ideas around with some of the premier global thinkers and practitioners in any field.
Real insights are rarely discovery out of nowhere. It is often the result of fortuitous collisions, in which different fields of expertise that don't traditionally communicate come together. This is a process we are committed to and our global bench of contacts play a crucial role.
MEET OUR ADVISORY BOARD...
Alastair Winter:
Alastair has a long and proven track record as an advisor to international organisations on developments in geopolitics, macroeconomics and global financial markets and the potential impacts on their business. He is a regular contributor to the public discourse on matters pertaining to finance, business and politics in the media and as a speaker. He studied History and Political Economy at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where he was elected President of the Student Representative Council and also a Vice President of the Scottish Union of Students. His professional career has included public service (Greater London Council), international banking (Chase Manhattan and Bears Stearns) and treasury management consultancy. Based in the City of London, he has served as a director and chairman of listed and private companies. As an entrepreneur he has over the years co-founded a corporate finance boutique, a specialist conference company, a treasury outsourcer and an Australian biotech company. Career highlights have been achieving market leadership in three different sectors: in UK NHS Trust treasury management, global securities safekeeping and international treasury management conferences. Over the years, he has served as a trustee and fund-raiser for a number of charities. Descended from immigrants (Russia and the US) and married to an Italian, he has always determinedly advocated international understanding and cooperation.
Atsushi Saito:
Saito-san is currently the Commissioner of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Prior to this role he served for as group CEO, President and Chief Executive Officer of Japan Exchange Group – the group was established from the combination of the Tokyo Stock Exchange Group and Osaka Securities Exchange.
He previously served as the President and CEO of Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), the holding company of the TSE and self-regulatory corporation of the exchange. In this capacity, Saito-san oversaw the merger of TSE and the Osaka Securities Exchange to form the JPX in January 2013. Prior to his time at TSE, he was the President and CEO of the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan (IRCJ), a government sponsored group focused on turnaround investments. While at IRCJ, Saito-san demonstrated strong leadership in the revitalization of several Japanese companies.
In addition to these roles, he was a CEO of Sumitomo Life Investment Co. He previously held various executive roles at Nomura Securities and was appointed as Executive Vice President of Nomura in 1995. During his 35 years at Nomura he was twice stationed in New York. Saito-san has been a Member of the Board of the World Federation of Exchanges. He holds a B.A. in Commerce from Keio University.
Chase Taylor:
Chase is the founder of Pinecone Macro Research, an US based independent global macro research firm that serves family offices, hedge funds, investment advisors and individual trading professionals. Chase brings a unique vantage point to this work based around his experiences in the US intelligence community and the US Air Force. Within his various roles with the US Airforce he has worked on bomber avionics, geospatial intelligence and the procurement of space related technologies. He has worked with everything from B-1 Bombers to spy planes, to satellite thrusters and rockets and spend time deployed to Southwest Asia as an intelligence analyst. Chase has formally studied intelligence analytical techniques, military history and global business. He brings his diverse and distinctive perspectives to the MSI team, combining his understanding of defense, technology, geo-economics and financial markets.
Grant Williams:
Grant began his career in finance in 1985 at the age of 18. Over his 35 year career, he has lived and worked in London, Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore and The Cayman Islands. Grant has been an equity, derivatives and bond trader at Robert Fleming & Co. Ltd, Jardine Fleming, UBS, Credit Suisse, and Banc of America as well as a portfolio manager for Singapore-based hedge fund, Vulpes Investment Management.
He founded Things That Make You Go Hmmm…, a finance-focused research firm and is one of the co-founders of Real Vision Group. Both of those projects focus on bringing wider understanding of the financial world to those seeking truth in finance. He is a respected voice on all things macro and hosts a popular podcast series that brings some of the greatest minds in finance and business together for deep dives into global trends. Grant also serves as a strategic advisor to Vulpes Investment Management and Matterhorn AG.
Jacob L. Shapiro:
Jacob is the Founder & Chief Strategist of Perch Perspectives. He oversees the company’s strategic direction and client engagements and has earned a reputation as a prolific researcher, writer, speaker, and analyst who embraces unconventional thinking and direct client collaboration. He believes in challenging traditional perspectives and ideas to give companies, policymakers, and executives the agency to proactively solve problems.
If you asked Jacob what career he wanted to pursue 20 years ago, “business and political consultant” would’ve fallen somewhere between “musician,” “rabbi,” “philosopher,” and “NBA commentator,” and certainly below “professional cheeseburger critic.” His seemingly wide-ranging interests and hobbies bely their fundamental commonalities. Music, theology, philosophy, culture, good food. These are just some of the many things that define us as humans, shape our respective worldviews and impact how we make decisions. It should be a surprise to no one, then, that Jacob believes the best way to advise business leaders and policymakers is the one that places humans at its center.
It’s a unique approach in a field that largely prioritizes determinism over human agency and universal methodologies over adaptable processes. In founding Perch Perspectives, Jacob is offering clients something new. He’s taking the lessons learned from a decade as an analyst and writer at Stratfor and Geopolitical Futures and building on top of them—finding a higher perch, one might say. His ultimate goal is to offer clients best-in-class writing and political analysis and, just as importantly, a different, more comprehensive perspective of the forces that shape the world and impact business or political decisions. That is an approach that we appreciate and embrace at MSI and Jacob, and his extended network, is a valued resource and he often provides the spark for great conversations on the world around us.
Richard Field:
Richard is the Director of the Institute for Financial Transparency (IFT). This Initiative awards its label to any investment which provides the required timely disclosures to enable investors to make informed decisions. Investments without its label are opaque, they have an investment story investors cannot trust, nor verify. The IFT aims to bring the ability to trust and verify back to financial markets. Since the mid-90s, Richard has been a leader in defining and implementing transparency in the finance industry. Richard designed, developed and patented a low-cost information system to handle all of the complexity involved in making every structured finance security transparent. His solution uses a data warehouse to provide all market participants with easily accessible, standardized collateral level data on an observable event basis over the life of each deal.
Earlier in his career, Richard worked as an Assistant Vice President for First Bank System and as a Research Assistant at the Federal Reserve Board. Richard has an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Yale University. Richard has written extensively about transparency in financial markets. In 2015, his book Transparency Games: How Bankers Rig the World of Finance was published.
Shaun Riordan:
Shaun is Director of the Department for Diplomacy and Cyberspace at the European Institute of International Studies, Senior Research Fellow at the Charhar Institute in Beijing and a Senior Visiting Fellow of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (“Clingendael”). He is a senior consultant with UNITAR on Digital, Public and Cyber Diplomacy and a member of the European Commission´s advisory committee on Encryption.
Shaun served 16 years in the British Diplomatic Service with postings to New York, Taiwan, Beijing and Madrid, as well as stints in the UN, Hong Kong, Counter-Terrorism and Balkans Departments of the Foreign Office. He teaches in Diplomatic Academies around the world including the Madrid Financial Markets Institute and the Rochat Business School. He has been a member of the advisory committees on Public Diplomacy of the Spanish Government and the UN Sustainable Development Goals Fund, as well as advising the UN World Tourism Organisation on geopolitical risk management.
Shaun is the author of “The New Diplomacy” (Polity 2003), “Adios a la Diplomacia” (Siglo XXI 2005), “Cyber Diplomacy: Managing Security and Governance Online” (Polity 2019) and “The Geopolitics of Cyberspace: A Diplomatic Perspective” (Brill 2019). He is a co-author of “Futures for Diplomacy: Integrative Diplomacy for the 21st Century” (Clingendael 2012).
Shaun holds an MA (Hons) in Philosophy from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University.
Velina Tchakarova:
Velina is Head of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) in Vienna. She has seven years of academic background and further ten years of working experience in the field of foreign, security and defence policy analysis. She is PhD Candidate at the University of Vienna, Austria and holds M.A. in Political Science/Political Science of South Asia in Heidelberg, Germany, as well as BA in International Relations and Macroeconomics in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Her work includes research, consulting, lectures and publications on Global System Transformation signals, trends and risks as well as the geostrategy of global and regional actors. She applies systems thinking, realpolitik and political economy approach to her analyses and research. Furthermore, she provides an expertise on geopolitical and geoeconomic due diligence as well as systemic risks. Lastly, she organizes and moderates expert workshops, webinars, and lectures for public and private clients.
A never-ending pursuit of understanding...
We bring a humility and deep commitment to continuous learning to our work that is rare. While there is a trend towards the binary and being an optimist, a pessimist or an idealist we choose the path of the realist.
This is crucial for retaining an open mind that is the prerequisite for building real understanding. It is this pursuit of independence that gives us the level of integrity and authenticity required to provide a truly top-of-class range of services.
It all begins with seeking understanding.