Andrew Whitley is founder and executive director of Geo-Political Advisory Services (GPAS), a UK-based consultancy that works on the alleviation of armed conflict in the Middle East and Asia. He was previously Policy Director and interim Chief Executive of The Elders, the organisation of global figures founded by Nelson Mandela. Before joining The Elders in London, in January 2011, Andrew worked for four decades around the world, first as a journalist with the BBC and Financial Times and later, from 1995 to 2010, with the United Nations. From 1990 to 1994 he was the founding director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, then known as Middle East Watch. At the UN, Andrew successively held senior posts at UNCTAD (the UN Conference on Trade and Development), the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations – in UN-administered East Timor and Kosovo – and at UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. A specialist in the Middle East, he has lived twice in Iran and twice in Israel and Palestine. The current work of GPAS is focused on Yemen as well as relations between Iran and its western neighbours. Andrew holds Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in History from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

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