James Wilkes is a highly experienced trouble shooter in global shipping, marine and international trade. He has been helping companies manage issues arising from corporate malfeasance, criminal activity, political instability, terrorism and other complex problems, for over twenty years.

James founded his company Gray Page, in 2003 and has headed the company ever since. Gray Page are a specialised investigations and intelligence consulting company providing knowledge, insight and advice to private and public sector clients around the world working predominantly in the marine, aviation, energy and commodities sectors, but supporting clients in a diverse range of matters.

In this episode we chat to James about how he built Gray Page from scratch, the challenges he faced along the way and what made him want to start his own business. We also discuss where big data and AI fit into James' industry of intelligence and security. We discuss how Human Intelligence or 'trade craft' is still a vital element of what James does and how in both intelligence and other, broader industries, its value cannot be replicated by AI.