R. P. Eddy

Randolph Post “R.P.” Eddy is an American businessman, venture investor, former US government official, and former United Nations diplomat. Currently, he is the CEO of Ergo, an emerging markets strategy and geopolitical intelligence firm headquartered in New York. Eddy is considered to be one of America’s most authoritative terrorism and national security experts and has advised the US and foreign governments.

Education
R.P. Eddy attended the Groton School and the University School of Milwaukee for secondary education. Eddy graduated from Brown University with a B.Sc. in Neuroscience.

Government and public service
Eddy began his career as the Director of Counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council during the Clinton Administration from 1994 to 1996. Later, he served in a variety of advisory positions to top American government officials. He served as a Senior Advisor for Intelligence and Counterterrorism to the United States Secretary of Energy, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations, and US representative to negotiations at the International Criminal Court, in Angola, and in Rwanda. After leaving the White House, Eddy served on behalf of the US government as Chief of Staff to US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke while Holbrooke served as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. Eddy left the US government and worked as a United Nations diplomat through 2001, moving on to successive positions as a Senior Policy Officer to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Eddy is credited as being one of the principal architects behind the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Shortly after leaving the United Nations in 2001, Eddy founded the Center of Tactical Counterterrorism (CTCT), in cooperation with the New York Police Department shortly after the September 11 attacks. The CTCT grew into a think tank that expanded the NYPD’s counterterrorism capabilities. Eddy served as the Executive Director as the group was merged into the Center for Policing Terrorism within the Manhattan Institute. Eddy remains an advisor to the NYPD on counterterrorism issues.

Private Sector
Eddy entered the private sector in 2002 when he joined the Monitor Group where he led teams on projects on AIDS pharmaceutical distribution and revamping the United States’ 9-1-1 emergency telephone system. Eddy joined international consultancy Gerson Lehrman Group in 2004 and became a Managing Director of the firm. In 2006, Eddy founded Ergo, a multinational strategy consulting firm specializing in emerging markets and geopolitical intelligence. Eddy currently serves as the company’s CEO. While at Ergo, Eddy was instrumental in the founding of Northern Gulf Partners, an investment firm and financial advisory focused on Iraq.

Committees, memberships, and accolades
Eddy is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations where he has frequently spoken on panel discussions on counterterrorism and urban security. Eddy is a member of several other think tanks including the national security-oriented Madison Policy Forum and the National Consortium for Advancing Policing Board of Advisors which specializes in intelligence-led policing. Eddy was formerly a Senior Fellow for Counterterrorism at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research from 2002 to 2009 and was a Fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Eddy’s impact as a national security policy advocate has largely been through promoting the role of police in combating terrorism. He is credited with launch the “First Preventers” theory for policing which countered the previously widely practiced policy that police should be only first responders. Eddy’s advocacy holds that local police should be empowered to detect and prevent terrorists before they act. Eddy has been the recipient of numerous awards, most notable of which was the World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow, presented in Davos in 2002. RP has also been named one of the top 100 “most esteemed terrorism and national security experts” in America by the Center for American Progress and Foreign Policy Magazine in 2006. Eddy is a recipient of the Leland Fellowship, the Manfred Wörner Scholarship, and the Evangelische Akademie Scholarship. The Harvard Business Review lauded Eddy’s efforts at Ergo as “breaking from industry orthodoxy with a radical new model” of consulting.

RP has made numerous appearances in national media including on PBS, Charlie Rose, Fox News, CBS, CNN, and NPR. Eddy has published several editorials and articles, mostly related to counterterrorism. Eddy testified before the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security in March 2008.

Selected Publications
Eddy’s writings have been published in the The Times of London and other outlets. The following is a list of works authored or co-authored by R.P. Eddy:
 * The Future of Terror: Home Grown Jihad, Lone Jihadists, and Local Preventers
 * Osama bin Laden wants a vote, so beware a late October surprise
 * Crime Fighting and Counterterrorism
 * McJihad at Virgina Tech
 * Why and How to Protect Trains
 * In The End All Terrorism Is Local
 * Jihad@work
 * Be Prepared for Terrorism: How to Survive a Suicide Bombing