Speakers
Mark Brantley
Senior Analyst, Jane’s DS Forecast
Mark Brantley is a Senior Analyst responsible for leading the Land Systems team and also for providing an assessment of the current and future worldwide market for Precision Guided Weapons. He joined Documental Solutions (now JDSF) in the summer of 2008 after completing a 20 year career with the US Army.
During his military career, Mark deployed to Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom; to Haiti in support of Operation Uphold Democracy; and to Honduras for service with Joint Task Force – Bravo. Mark’s career also included service as an Operations Research analyst at the Center for Army Analysis where he conducted campaign modeling and simulation as well as provided reach back support for forward deployed analysts.
Mike Crochet
Senior Analyst, Jane’s DS Forecast
Mike Crochet is a Senior Analyst responsible for the Sonar and Homeland Security databases. He is also the team leader for the Jane’s DS Forecast Naval Systems group. Mike joined IHS Jane’s (Documental Solutions) in 2006 after completing a 30 year career in the US Navy.
During his military career, Mike served in five different nuclear powered submarines, culminating with command of USS BREMERTON in Pearl Harbor HI. He also served in a variety of staff and shore duty assignments in Washington D.C., Italy, and the United Kingdom. Mike’s final military assignment was as an instructor at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, PA.
James Green
IHS Jane's Security Publisher
James Green is responsible for Jane’s Security and Armed Forces services. In this role, he manages those editorial teams that publish on country risk issues such as terrorism, organised crime, political and social stability and armed forces capabilities.
James started his career at Jane’s after graduating in War Studies from Kings College, London. Before rejoining the company in 2004, James was responsible for editorial publications at the UK-based think-tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and previously was a journalist for The Daily Telegraph.
Gala Riani
Research Analyst, Middle East and North Africa, IHS Global Insight
Gala Riani joined IHS Global Insight in September 2008 as Research Analyst, Middle East and North Africa, responsible for covering the political, security, and business environment of several countries in that region.
Gala previously worked for the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq and in Sweden. She studied at the United World College of the Atlantic and holds a BA in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Theory and History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Gala speaks fluent Kurdish and Swedish and has some knowledge of Persian and French.
Alex Vatanka
Jane’s Middle East Senior Analyst
Alex Vatanka is the US-based Senior Middle East Analyst at IHS Jane’s. He joined IHS Jane’s in London in April 2001. Alex has since March 2006 been the managing editor of Jane’s Islamic Affairs Analyst (jiaa.janes.com) and Jane’s Intelligence Digest (jid.janes.com).
Prior to taking his current position, he worked for five years at Jane’s Sentinel Country Assessments in the UK as a Political Risk Analyst. In that capacity, he was responsible for the daily monitoring and identification and reporting of significant developments in international and regional security with follow-up in-depth coverage and published reporting of various state and trans-national security threats. His primary geographic areas of focus were Afghanistan, Iran and the CIS states.
His most recent publications include “Republic enemy: US policy and Iranian election” (with Ali Alfoneh) (Jane’s Intelligence Review, November 2008); “Iran’s Shia Reach Out to Mainstream Salafists” (CTC Sentinel/West Point, June 2008); “Ali Khamenei: Iran’s Most Powerful Man” (Middle East Institute, March 2008) and “Energy Security in Iran’s Khuzestan Province” (Jane’s Intelligence Review, December 2007). He has frequently appeared on media outlets such as the BBC World Service, CNN, MSNBC, Sky News, ITN, Voice of America, and CBC, and he has written for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor, The World Today, and the Jerusalem Post.
Mr. Vatanka joined the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., as an Adjunct Scholar in July 2007, and has since 2006 been a Fellow in Middle East Studies at the US Air Force Special Operations School (USAFSOS). He was born in Iran, but primarily lived in Europe, and is fluent in Persian (including Dari), Danish and Norwegian.