Who We Are & What Makes ERI Different - Emergent Risk International

Who We Are

What Makes ERI Different

Pervasive technology and rapid global change allow us to witness global events as never before. Looking around, it’s easy to believe our risks are bigger and more dangerous.

We see it differently.

While our feeds pummel us with news of disruption and upheaval, much of the world – with obvious exceptions – has never been safer. But it’s also never changed faster, and that creates risk for business and organizations that operate in the global marketplace. In turn, businesses’ responsibility to recognize and mitigate that risk while remaining competitive has increased exponentially. Most of those risks will not come from headline grabbing events. Instead, they will emanate from less obvious – but often more consequential – external risks like poor political leadership, environmental change, cyber-threats, or regulatory uncertainty.

In our view, the key to mitigating risk and growing in overseas markets lies in having a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities that these markets provide in the context of your business model. We equip your organization for this through tailored intelligence, strategic advice, and training that allows your team to build well-informed, culturally relevant strategies.

We help you to identify opportunity and enable business.

Risk intelligence in business is different from government intelligence. While government intelligence training provides a tremendous foundation for work in the private sector, risk intelligence in a business setting requires a different set of skills and inputs. Most importantly, it demands a specific mindset that aligns analytic tools and focus of analysis to the mission and operations of your business.

Through this lens, we offer something different from our competitors. We approach intelligence and risk from a systems-based perspective. We examine your company’s full spectrum value chain to identify risks and opportunities in the most critical parts of your business. We provide training, analysis, advice, and strategies that drive intelligence-led decision-making across the business and create strategic advantage in challenging environments.

Leadership Bios

Meredith Wilson

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Meredith Wilson has over 20 years experience in intelligence, government, corporate and international environments. She started Emergent Risk International with the belief that, with the proper strategy and mindset, risk intelligence could add more than worry to an organization’s bottom line. As a former Defense Intelligence Officer as well as an oil and gas industry veteran – first building a risk intelligence function for ConocoPhillips and then for Kosmos Energy – Ms. Wilson has seen how intelligence can function well in both environments, but also how differently these functions operate within their organizations. With that knowledge and an extremely talented and adventurous team, since its founding in 2014, ERI has grown into a multi-national company with offices in the United States (Dallas, Austin, Washington DC and greater Boston), the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Singapore; serving some of the world’s most valuable brands.

Ms. Wilson was a founding member of the Private Sector Intelligence Council (PSIC) and a Founding Board Member of the Association of International Risk and Intelligence Professionals (AIRIP). She previously served on the Business Intelligence Advisory Council for the National Intelligence Officer for Science and Technology. She spent much of her early career abroad, living in Southeast Asia and Europe. She, her family, and her three furry coworkers currently call Rhode Island home.

Brady Roberts

Chief Operating Officer

Brady Roberts joined the company in January 2018, where he oversees ERI’s daily operations, trains clients and consults directly with customers, leveraging his over 20 years of experience in the intelligence field. Prior to entering the private sector, Mr. Roberts spent 16 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, primarily as an Operations Officer serving overseas.

He has lived and served in South Asia, the Middle East and Central Europe, and has worked in a liaison capacity alongside numerous other government intelligence and law enforcement agencies, internationally and within the US. Brady works from his home in Austin, TX, where his officemates, dogs Fezzik and Nika, join him on more Zoom calls than he would prefer.

Kieran O’Leary

Director, Analysis

Kieran joined ERI in March 2020, just as COVID-19 struck the US, demonstrating his impeccable timing. Prior to joining ERI, Kieran worked in foreign policy, defense strategy and intelligence for the Australian government, focusing on the Indo-Pacific region, the South Pacific and the Australia-US alliance, including postings to the Australian Embassy in Jakarta and US Indo-Pacific Command Headquarters in Hawaii. Kieran has Master’s degrees in International Relations and Defense Strategy, the latter from the Indonesian Defense University, where he was the first foreign student to graduate as valedictorian from an Indonesian military school. Kieran speaks Indonesian and enjoys skiing, hiking and cycling, as well as nerding out over international affairs.

Paul McGrath

Director of Products & Services

Paul has overall responsibility for our products and services and joined the team in 2024.

Paul has 20 years’ experience formulating and delivering commercially relevant solutions for hundreds of clients working across insurance, corporate security, government and strategic planning. He has been a Latin America analyst, Intelligence Manager and then Product Manager for a number of other industry platforms and has worked in over 20 different countries.

Paul holds an MA in Conflict, Security & Development from King’s College London and a BA in Latin American Studies from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The best bit about my job is improving the Emergent RiskIQ platform and working with our great analysts.

When not working you can find me walking the dog.

Erol Yalciner

Global Head of Marketing

Erol has overall responsibility for our marketing and joined the team at the start of 2024.

He has over 20 years’ experience in professional services, working for leading companies in consulting, law, property, strategic business risk, geopolitical and security intelligence.

Erol holds a business and marketing degree from London Metropolitan University (BA (Hons) and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (DipM FCIM).

The best bit about my job is the variety of responsibilities and every day being different; but above all, hearing first-hand about the great things we do and the difference we make to our clients’ businesses.

When not working you can find me, being kept busy by my young daughters or escaping them by watching soccer (erm, football) or going for a run.

Iman Elbanna

Client Relations Manager

Iman joined ERI in June 2015 as the company’s first full-time employee. She works directly with clients to help them get the most out of ERI’s products and services. In addition to her role as Manager of Client Relations, she leads our coverage of the Middle East and North Africa. She holds a BA in International Relations & Global Studies from the University of Texas at Austin and recently completed her MA in Middle East Studies at George Washington University. Though based in the DC area, Iman is a transplant from Dallas and still loyally roots for Dallas sports teams – especially the Mavericks and Cowboys.

Huw Longmore

Director, Client Relations

Before joining ERI, Huw Longmore worked global security, resilience and consulting in the UK and US, and was an Officer in the British Army for nearly 10 years. During this time, he served across North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Since joining ERI in March 2020, Huw has worked from the safety of his home office in Austin, TX, which has withstood disruptions caused by Covid 19, protests, Texas summer storms and Texas winter storms. Only his children successfully interrupt his Zoom calls, which they frequently try to do. Huw longs for a return to travel and the quiet of hotels.

Who We Work For

Our Clients

ERI works with firms across the multi-national spectrum: Fortune 10 companies, investment firms, rapidly growing tech start-ups, non-government organizations and everything in between. We work with clients in extractives, insurance, engineering and agriculture, among others.

Testimonial

ERI’s embedded analyst program has punched far above its weight for our company. We went from almost no capability to a mature intelligence program with huge demand from our C-level executives and business lines, in less than a year. It’s been a huge success.
Sr. Director, Global Security – Fortune 50 company

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Who We Are

What Makes ERI Different

Pervasive technology and rapid global change allow us to witness global events as never before. Looking around, it’s easy to believe our risks are bigger and more dangerous.

We see it differently.

We help you to identify opportunity and enable business.