Lara Symons

Lara has a distinguished career working in crisis response, spending nearly two decades with Control Risks in London, UK, before joining Hostage International in February 2017 as their first full-time chief executive. She brought to the charity an exceptional knowledge of worldwide kidnapping trends, the issues driving arbitrary detention and an understanding of the impact that kidnapping and arbitrary detention have on both employers and families. She has extensive experience in directly assisting families affected by kidnap and arbitrary detention and in supporting former hostages and detainees. Lara regularly delivers training in best practice in family support and hostage re-integration. She is a qualified lawyer and holds first class degrees in Political Science (BA and MA, McGill University) and Jurisprudence (Oxford University).