Ronald K. Noble was born and raised in New Jersey, the son of United States Army service members. Mr. Noble received a BA from the University of New Hampshire. After graduating cum laude from Stanford Law School in 1982, where he was a law Review editor, Mr. Noble clerked for the Hon. A. Leon Higgenbotham of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1982, at the urging of Judge Higginbotham, Mr. Noble was appointed as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where he prosecuted several high-profile narcotics and public corruption cases. In 1988, Mr. Noble was promoted to Main Justice to serve as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and chief of staff to then Assistant Attorney General Edward S.G. Dennis of the Criminal Division.
In 1993, Mr. Noble was appointed the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement, overseeing the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Customs Service Office of Enforcement, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FINCEN”). He was elected President of the G-7-created Financial Action Task Force in 1995.
In 1996, Mr. Noble returned to New York University School of Law to continue working as a tenured professor (1989-2014).
In addition to his distinguished service as one of the most senior law enforcement leaders of the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and Justice, Mr. Noble has honorably served over three terms (200-2014) as Secretary General of INTERPOL, the renowned international law enforcement liaison and policy leader since 1923. Mr. Noble is the only American and non-European to have served in this position, and was its youngest, most respected and innovative leader, elected to a five-year term by the world’s law enforcement organizations at the 74th General Assembly in Berlin, and thereafter re-elected twice. Over his three terms, Mr. Noble visited all of INTERPOL’s 190 member-countries and established relationships with the world’s political, law enforcement and security service leaders and organizations, immensely strengthening and sustaining INTERPOL’s global liaison network, influence and prestige.
Mr. Noble transformed INTERPOL into a global, 24/7 enterprise – regularly deploying Incident Response Teams (IRTs) worldwide to confront serious crimes, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters. Recognized highlights of Secretary General Noble’s 14-year tenure include:
- Increasing INTERPOL Stolen and Lost Travel Document (SLTD) database searches from less than 1,000 to over 800 million annually while increasing arrests globally by 600 percent;
- Providing strategic security support during major international events, including G-8/OPEC meetings, the World Cup, and Olympics;
- Creating INTERPOL’s Global Complex for Innovation in Singapore to fight cyber-crime;
- Advocating passport screening by airlines, banks and hotels against INTERPOL’s databases.
Mr. Noble was named to France’s Legion of Honor, knighted by the Vatican and received high honors from several countries, including the United States, Singapore, Pakistan, Colombia, Cameroon, Russia and the Ukraine.
In addition to a long and distinguished public service career in the United States and with INTERPOL, Mr. Noble has legally represented a wide array of individual, corporate and sovereign government clients in complex investigations, litigation and settlements. Mr. Noble’s unique international law enforcement and legal experience enables him to contact and negotiate with senior government officials, regulators, political leaders and decision-makers throughout the United States and in 190 other countries. This brings unique and high-level value to his FSS Clients.