Sean Cunningham OBE is a highly experienced crisis management and security professional with 45 years of public and private-sector experience spanning hostage and crisis negotiation, international kidnapping, corporate security, complex investigations, and strategic crisis leadership.

Sean served for 30 years with the Metropolitan Police, culminating in his appointment as Head of the Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Unit at New Scotland Yard. In this role, he led specialist negotiation capabilities and served as an adviser to the UK Government on international kidnapping and other life-at-risk incidents.

Following his police career, Sean spent five years as Director of Security for a leading European gaming company. In addition to overseeing physical and corporate security, he held responsibility for anti-money laundering, data protection, responsible gambling, and health and safety.

Sean subsequently spent five years with a risk consultancy, where he delivered kidnap-awareness training to corporate clients and led sensitive investigations involving threats to personal safety, missing persons, and other complex matters.

Most recently, Sean served as Group Crisis Manager for a global wind turbine manufacturer. In this role, he strengthened the organisation’s crisis management capabilities and led the development of an AI-enabled tool designed to improve the speed and quality of the initial response to incidents.

Sean was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2011 for services to international hostage negotiation. He holds an MSc in Critical and Major Incident Psychology from the University of Liverpool and has published articles examining the accountability of advisers, the use of artificial intelligence in crisis log keeping, and strategic decision-making during crises.

Sean brings to GoCrisis an exceptional combination of operational experience, behavioural insight, investigative expertise, and strategic crisis leadership.