Straife announces the appointment of Mike Croissant, a move that significantly strengthens the firm’s corporate intelligence division. Straife’s corporate intelligence team, led by co-founder and counter-terrorism specialist James Conway, plays a strategic role in helping organizations make critical predictive decisions, from budgeting to allocating resources, opening new markets, and mitigating risk.
Today's corporate leadership realizes the value of intelligence, empowering them to minimize uncertainty and maximize opportunity. As Vice President of corporate intelligence, Mike Croissant leads cross-organizational initiatives with proven collection and analytical techniques and processes, yielding client-specific actionable intelligence and enabling decision-makers to facilitate growth, make better strategies, optimize emerging opportunities, and compete more effectively.
Croissant retired from the CIA in 2021 after nearly 22 years of service. As a CIA political analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence for the Office of Russian and European Analysis, where he conducted deep dives to evaluate political strategies, analyze the goals and motivations of foreign governments, and assess the strengths and weaknesses of various foreign government strategies to forecast the potential impact on U.S. goals and policies.
Before retiring, Croissant was a targeting officer in the Director of Operations (DO) at Langley’s Counterterrorism Mission Center. A key member of the counterterrorism team, he drove the planning and execution of foreign intelligence collection, counterintelligence, and covert action operations to identify terrorist threats, illegal arms trade, and drug networks on a global scale.
"We are thrilled to welcome Mike Croissant to our executive team," said James Conway, co-founder and managing director of Straife. "With his deep expertise in intelligence and proven leadership, Croissant will play a pivotal role in enhancing the value we provide to our clients and, ultimately, a measurable edge over their competition."
As Vice President of Corporate Intelligence, Croissant will collaborate closely with Straife's leadership team and key stakeholders to refine the corporate intelligence strategy and expand its capabilities. In addition to strengthening existing service offerings, Croissant aims to explore innovative approaches to predictive risk analysis and expand the firm's global intelligence footprint.
“The ability to anticipate market trends rather than merely react has taken center stage. Gathering corporate intelligence requires data-driven decision-making across an organization. WIth his seasoned intelligence background, I look forward to Mike Croissant successfully making corporate data less daunting for clients and streamlining the processes of data collection and analysis,” stated Joseph Fleming, Straife co-founder and managing director.