Beniamino Irdi is a nonresident senior fellow with GMF’s Global Power Shifts team. His areas of expertise include the geopolitics of the Mediterranean, great-power competition, democratic resilience, and hybrid threats. He is the founder and chief executive officer of HighGround, a political-risk consulting firm based in Milan and Rome.

Irdi spent 17 years in the Italian government focused on foreign policy, national security, and strategic affairs. While in government, he worked in the prime minister’s office, where he advised senior government officials on great-power competition, foreign malign influence, and Russia's war in Ukraine. He also served as special adviser to Italy’s foreign minister and was posted to Italian embassies in Tokyo and Washington, DC.

Irdi began his career as Middle East analyst, and is the author of a book that examines the use of military force against terrorist organizations.

Irdi holds a master’s degree in international policy and practice from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and strategic studies from Rome’s LUISS University. His analyses have appeared in outlets including Bloomberg, the Financial Times, The New York Times, and POLITICO.