Nicola leads Control Risks’ Special Risks Analysis team, which tracks kidnapping-for-ransom and other extortive crime trends globally as part of Control Risks’ Confidential Crisis Response practice. The analysts’ primary responsibilities are to provide operational support to deployed consultants working on active kidnap-for-ransom and other acute crises; to maintain up-to-date analysis of kidnapping and extortion trends on Control Risks’ online platform CORE; and to produce bespoke analysis detailing kidnap-for-ransom trends for clients’ individual risk exposure.

Examples of recent engagements include:

• A speaking engagement for the charity Hostage UK, outlining to a corporate and government audience the particular impact of terrorist kidnapping on victims and their families, and how the terrorist kidnapping threat was likely to evolve in the coming year.
• A strategic assessment for a multinational, outlining the impact that plans to add company logos to all corporate credit cards would have on the kidnap and extortion threat to the company’s employees operating in or deployed to known hotspots. 
• A tailored report for two High-Net-Worth executives of a multinational who were concerned that publically available photographs of their dependants could increase the threat of them being kidnapped. The report looked at kidnappers’ risk appetite for targeting high-profile individuals, as well as their targeting practices in the families’ home country and in other areas of the world where they may travel.
  
   

Nicola has been an expert in kidnapping and extortion trends for several years, previously serving on the Special Risks Analysis team as a Senior Analyst and an Analyst covering the Middle East and Asia. Prior to joining Control Risks, Nicola worked as an analyst for the UK government. She was responsible for analysing the intent and capability of militant networks based in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Central Asia to harm UK assets in those countries and in the UK. Nicola has a BA Joint Honours degree in French and German from the University of Kent and has lived in Germany and Switzerland.