People

Brendan Johannsen is Senior Managing Director and COO of Teneo’s Risk Advisory business.

In that role, Brendan advises global executives on building and executing corporate resilience, crisis response, geopolitical risk and strategic threat mitigation efforts. He also manages business operations of the Security Risk Advisory practice. He has worked with clients across North America, Europe, Africa and South Asia to mitigate risk, address emergencies and enable responses to a range of reputational and security crises.

Brendan was previously a Political Analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he developed new intelligence programs focused on the intersection of political stability and human security. In addition to CIA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Brendan served in sub-Saharan Africa and U.S. warzones. From 2022-26 he also served as an external advisor to the U.S. National Intelligence Council. He received a CIA Academic Fellowship from 2014-16, is an Atlantic Council Millenium Leadership alumnus and Truman Project National Security Fellow. He is also a founding board member of the Alliance for Global Security.

Brendan has a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University and a Master’s in Public Affairs from Sciences Po, Paris (high honors); he received a BA in political science and German from Tufts University (high honors).