Dr. French Caldwell

Dr. French Caldwell, DLP, is the founder and chief research officer of FCInsight, as well as CFO of The Analyst Syndicate – a syndicate of leading independent analysts. Having recently completed his doctorate in law and policy at Northeastern University, French was awarded the Dean’s Medal for Outstanding Doctoral Research for his dissertation Tweeting dystopia: the impact of cybermediaries on the making of public policy.

From 2014 to 2018, French was the Chief Evangelist and CMO for a governance, risk and compliance (GRC) technology firm in Silicon Valley. Prior to that, French was a Vice President and Gartner Fellow at Gartner, Inc. He led the ground-breaking White House-sponsored cyberterrorism war game, Digital Pearl Harbor, and appeared on international news programs, including a documentary on the History Channel. In a 15-year career at Gartner, French established and led research and advisory programs on knowledge management, digital society, government, public policy, cybersecurity, risk management and compliance, legal information technology, and disruptive trends and technologies.

Prior to joining Gartner, French was the director of knowledge services in Arthur Andersen’s Office of Government Services, where he worked with strategic clients, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Defense. French completed a career as a nuclear submarine officer, and he has directed special congressional projects for the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of Defense. Upon retiring from the Navy he served as the international liaison and special projects officer for the congressional Commission on Roles and Missions of the armed services.

French earned his Bachelor of Science degree in oceanography at the U.S. Naval Academy a Master of Arts in international studies at Old Dominion University, and a Doctor of Law and Policy at Northeastern University. He earned his command and staff degree at the U.S. Naval War College. He has been a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution, an adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and an adjunct professor and board member of the Institute for Innovation and Knowledge Management in the graduate engineering management program at George Washington University. He is the author of the book Arctic Leverage: Canadian Sovereignty and Security, and has contributed to over 400 research papers and articles.