Speaker Biography      

John Giacalone
Vice President of Global Safety and Security, Hilton

Mr. Giacalone started his career as a special agent with the FBI in 1991. He was first assigned to the New York Field Office, where he made substantial contributions in the fight against organized crime. While there, he formed a highly successful interagency task force that won important victories against organized crime in New York City’s Garment District.

In 2003, Mr. Giacalone transferred to the Philadelphia Division as a supervisory special agent, where he created and directed the first Field Intelligence Group in Philadelphia. He next served as deputy on-scene commander in the Iraqi theater of operations beginning in 2005 and coordinated the efforts of the FBI, the intelligence community, and the U.S. military.
In 2008, he joined the Attorney General Guidelines Task Force, which drafted the FBI’s new domestic investigative policy. Two years later, he was appointed chief of the Counterterrorism Division’s Domestic Terrorism Strategic Operations Section at FBI Headquarters.

In 2011, he returned to the New York Field Office as the Special Agent in Charge of the Counterterrorism Division. During his tenure in New York City, Mr. Giacalone led a number of high profile investigations to include the Benghazi Attack in Libya, the attempted bombing of the Federal Reserve in NYC, and the In Amenas Attack in Algeria.

In 2013, the Director of the FBI promoted Mr. Giacalone to Assistant Director of global counterterrorism operations.  The following year he was promoted again to the Executive Assistant Director of the National Security Branch.  In that role Mr. Giacalone managed the strategic risk associated with global counterterrorism, counterintelligence and weapons of mass destruction operations.

In 2016, Mr. Giacalone received the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award from the White House and the William J. Donovan Award from the Central Intelligence Agency.

On March 7, 2016, Mr. Giacalone joined Hilton Worldwide as the Vice President of Global Security and Safety and Business Continuity. At Hilton, he and his team have built an industry leading Safety, Security and Crisis Response department that leverages internal and external expertise to assess and mitigate company risks.

Mr. Giacalone has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Adelphi University and a Master’s Degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the United States Naval War College. He is married with three children.