Staff
Ian Bolton, Founder and CEO
Lucy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer
Lucy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer
Ian Bolton is the Founder and CEO of Sanctions SOS. It was his dream to create a sanctions consultancy that brings together sanctions expertise from across governments, industry and academia.
Ian was the Editor of FISC (Financial Institutions Sanctions Compliance) Journal, which was published by WorldECR. FISC provided sanctions knowledge and expertise for the financial sector, customers and advisors.
Prior to this Ian worked at HSBC-UK as a Sanctions Senior Manager, leading on regulatory reporting and advisory work for the retail bank. Before joining HSBC-UK, Ian was a British Diplomat for 11 years. As well as serving overseas, Ian focussed extensively on Counter-Proliferation policy, including the enforcement of sanctions and interdictions, and helped write the UK’s keynote sanctions legislation, the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act (2018).
Ian worked for King’s College London on strategic export controls and Counter-Proliferation sanctions, is a Visiting Sanctions Research Fellow at King’s, and a sanctions Panel Member and trainer for the International Compliance Association.
Lucy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer
Lucy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer
Lucy Bolton, Chief Operating Officer
Lucy Bolton is the Chief Operating Officer of Sanctions SOS. Bringing her keen eye for detail, and extensive programme, gender, and policy experience to the role. Lucy is a long serving British Diplomat having worked at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office for over 16 years.
Lucy is fluent in three English, French, and Spanish and also speaks Greek, Italian, and Hebrew.
Lucy's focus within Sanctions SOS is limited to the internal operations of Sanctions SOS, where she focuses on editorial control of work, and supporting the day-to-day operational running of the organisation. She plays no role in policy development of Sanctions SOS, Compliance related work, or training. Nor in any content creation by Sanctions SOS.
Mathilde Gerritsma, Associate - Outreach and Policy
Chloe Giasemidis, Junior Associate - Capacity and Policy
Chloe Giasemidis, Junior Associate - Capacity and Policy
Mathilde Gerritsma is an Associate in Outreach and Policy at Sanctions SOS, where she blends her strategic business insights with a deep passion for international relations to help organisations navigate sanctions risks and drive impactful sanctions practices worldwide.
With a BA in Chinese Studies and a minor in Russian Studies from the University of Manchester, Mathilde has developed a keen understanding of global policy and geopolitics, particularly in China, Russia, and the DPRK. Her expertise is further complemented by specialised training in sanctions and counter-terrorism, enabling her to make significant contributions to the development of sanctions compliance frameworks, risk analysis, and thought leadership in the field.
Mathilde’s professional background in business development and partnerships further enhances her ability to forge long-term, trust-based relationships across industries in both the private and public sectors. Fluent in English, Mandarin (HSK6), and Dutch, with proficiency in French, German, and Russian, she leverages her multilingual skills to engage effectively with global stakeholders, fostering cross-cultural understanding and collaboration.
In her current role, Mathilde leads business development, marketing, and compliance efforts, with a focus on counter-terrorism (CT), counter-proliferation (CP), and the roles of Russia and China in sanctions. She also co-leads the team’s Myanmar initiatives.
Chloe Giasemidis, Junior Associate - Capacity and Policy
Chloe Giasemidis, Junior Associate - Capacity and Policy
Chloe Giasemidis, Junior Associate - Capacity and Policy
Chloe Giasemidis is a Junior Associate in Capacity and Policy at Sanctions SOS. Her work features a passion for Gender studies, Feminism and Peace and Conflict in the world of International Relations.
Chloe has an extensive background in International Relations, gaining a Distinction class MA from the University of Manchester in IR. Chloe’s MA dissertation focused on locating where the women are in peacebuilding negotiations in Cyprus and how this has developed over time. Her dissertation won the University’s Social Inclusion Award and is in the process of being published by the Political Perspectives journal. Chloe is fluent in Greek Cypriot. Prior to working with Sanctions SOS Chloe worked as a Recruitment Manger.
Chloe's role involves working with governments around the world to build sanctions capacity and helping to train those involved with sanctions. Her role also involves research and analysis across a range of sanctions issues. In particular looking at sanctions through a lens of Gender studies, Feminism and Peace and Conflict. Her work focusses on the humanitarian aspect of sanctions and the unintended consequence. She also jointly leads on our Syria work.
Freelance Staff
Juliana Fonseca, Junior Associate - Compliance and Policy
Juliana Fonseca is a freelance Junior Associate at Sanctions SOS, focussing on Research and Policy. Her work benefits from a passion for international relations, with a particular focus on Africa, and strong linguistic skills.
Juliana has an extensive background on International Relations, including as a Wilton Park Youth Ambassador. This provides insight into different factors that play into the world of economic sanctions. Juliana is a Portuguese speaker and is also fluent in two other languages.
Juliana completed a BSc Econ in International relations with Politics and Spanish at Cardiff University in 2023. She is continuing her studies at King's College London with an MA in Conflict, Security and Development . In particular Juliana has spent several years with a particular interest in Human rights, equality, poverty reduction, the post-effects of colonialism, and Sino-African relations.
Juliana’s role within Sanctions SOS involves research and analysis on sanctions, with a specific focus on African countries and how Sino-African relations effect sanctions. As well as curating and producing social media content related to sanctions.
Visiting Expert Cadre
What is the Cadre?
Sanctions SOS operates a cadre of visiting experts, which we routinely call upon for input in our research and academic output. The visiting cadre also regular works with us providing specific expertise and skills assisting with training, projects, and research. These experts work under the banner of Sanctions SOS bringing their unique experience and skills to broaden and deepen our own.
Ross Savage, Senior Expert
Following military service with the British Army, Ross joined the Metropolitan Police in 2002. In 2007, he became an Accredited Financial Investigator, focusing on conducting money laundering investigations and stripping the assets of criminals. In 2009, Ross joined the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit (NTFIU). Working closely with key government and industry partners, he led the UK's national and International Terrorist Finance (TF) and financial intelligence operations. Ross was part of a small team of counter-terrorism officers working with the FCDO that delivered bespoke, tailored, training in Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) to overseas partners in the middle east.
From 2013 until 2015 Ross was seconded to the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide specialist CFT and AML Investigative expertise to cross-government initiatives targeting the funding networks relied upon by the Taliban and other extremist and terrorist organisations - travelling to Afghanistan, the United States and across Europe. From 2015 until 2021, operating as Grata Opus Ltd, Ross designed and delivered bespoke CFT, AML, Sanctions, Anti-Fraud and Financial Crime Prevention (FCP) training and consultancy services to a wide range of government and private sector clients across the globe.
In 2021, Ross became a full-time Course Director and Global Lead for Sanctions Compliance Training at the International Compliance Association (ICA). Throughout 2021 to mid 2022, he was privileged to manage the delivery of, and develop extensive training content for, the first new Diploma qualification the ICA had launched in ten years; the International Diploma in Managing Sanctions Risk. In July 2022 Ross left the ICA moving back into private consultancy and training delivery as Grata Opus Ltd.
Dr. Daniel Salisbury, Senior Expert
Dr Daniel Salisbury is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) within the Department of War Studies. He is currently undertaking a three-year research project on arms embargos as part of a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship. Daniel is also an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). He previously held positions at the Stimson Center, the Belfer Center, the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies, CSSS and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Daniel is the author of Secrecy, Public Relations and the British Nuclear Debate: How the UK Government Learned to Talk about the Bomb, 1970-1983 (Routledge Cold War History series, 2020), the co-editor of books on UNSCR 1540 and open source intelligence, and has published over 20 journal articles and book chapters.
Daniel has acted as a Subject Matter Expert at over 30 export control, proliferation finance and nuclear security capacity building workshops in nearly 20 jurisdictions around the world since 2012. He holds a PhD in War Studies, MA in Science and Security and BA in War Studies from King's College London. He sits on the editorial board of the Strategic Trade Review.