John Smith is a co-founder of Hostage US and a member of the Hostage US Board of Directors.  He served as Chairman of UK-based Hostage International until August 2021 and has an active interest and some experience in helping resolve the problems hostages and their families face.

Elsewhere he advises international organizations on security, intelligence, and resilience management.  He was CSO and Director of Group Resilience at Prudential plc for 20 years, where his global risk portfolio included political, security, physical, operational, information and cyber, money laundering control, anti-corruption, fraud prevention, and investigation, disaster and crisis management, business recovery and privacy. Before joining Prudential, he was Director, High Security at an international company and was responsible for providing high-level security systems, services, and consultancy to banking and government clients.

He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Manchester University in England, where he graduated in psychology.  He served as an officer in the British Army in command and specialist roles. John is a life member and Past President of the International Security Management Association, a member of the Senior Advisory Committee of the Overseas Security Advisory Council, and an Emeritus member and former Chairman of the Risk and Security Management Forum. He is a founding Fellow of the Security Institute.