Investing in people.
We are a community of cutting-edge social scientists and experienced policymakers versed in policy-relevant scholarship. Our network includes diplomats, academics, congressional aides, technologists, and NGO practitioners. Our vision is to support a new generation of government officials eager to inject objective evidence into the policy process.
Executive Team
DAN SPOKOJNY | CEO and Founder
Before founding fp21, Dan served in government for over a decade as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer and a foreign policy legislative staffer in Congress. Dan stepped away from government to pursue a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation work focuses on the role of expertise in foreign policy. He teaches courses on foreign policy decision-making at Johns Hopkins School of Advance International Affairs and George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, and has lectured at the State Department, Central Intelligence Agency, Georgetown, Mitre Corporation, and more. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Foreign Service Journal and has served on the governing board of the American Foreign Service Association.
DR. THOMAS SCHERER | Research Director
Thomas is an academic-practitioner working on international crisis and intervention. He previously applied innovative research technologies to peace and conflict issues as the Deputy Director of the Center for Peace and Security Studies, University of California San Diego. Thomas also worked at the US Institute of Peace. He holds a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University.
ELLICE HUANG | Operations Director
Ellice holds a BA in Economics with a minor in Data Science from the University of California, Berkeley, where she wrote her undergraduate thesis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the US. At Berkeley, she supported research on the role of expertise in foreign policy decision-making with quantitative analysis methods. She also has experience in management and technology consulting.
Board of Directors
Alex Johnson
Alex is an inclusive foreign policy leader and human security expert with more than a decade of federal experience at the U.S. Congress, Department of Defense, and service in a U.S. embassy abroad. He is the Manager of a storied independent commission advancing human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Dr. Daniel Balke
Daniel is a Senior Policy Advisor at USAID and previous Strategy and Operations Officer in the Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Group at the World Bank Group. He also worked as an assistant to former World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and as an international economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He holds an MA in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University and a PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley.
Janice DeGarmo
Janice is the CEO of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. She holds 20 years of experience at the State Department, serving as the Director of the Office of Management Strategy and Solutions (M/SS). She also served as the Department’s first ever Acting Chief Data Officer, where she created the Center for Analytics and worked to elevate data-informed diplomacy. Janice holds an MBA from the University of Maryland.
Dr. Victor Marsh
Victor completed his doctorate in Organizational Behavior at the University of Colorado. Prior to pursuing doctoral study, he was a U.S. diplomat posted to Cyprus, Hong Kong & Macau, and the Secretary of State’s headquarters team. After working inside the U.S. federal government’s bureaucracy, Vic is now an institutional scholar who studies where bureaucracies come from: organizational design decisions. Specifically, Vic is interested in the role of social movements and moral pressures on decisions that organizational leaders make when designing organizational policies, procedures, and practices.
Research Fellows
Dr. Michael Becker | Research Fellow
Michael Becker is a political and data scientist who studies international security, political violence, and foreign policy. His research uses computational, statistical, and qualitative methods to elucidate topics such as the connections between communications and behavior by militant groups, the drivers of lopsided international conflicts, target selection by lone violent offenders, and the dynamics of civil wars. Michael received his Ph.D. from the Department of Politics at New York University.
Sophia Brown-Heidenreich | Research Fellow
Sophia is a foreign policy and organizational development professional. Previously the Chief of Staff at fp21, she is now Chief of Staff at the Horizon Institute for Public Service. She also worked as a foreign policy researcher at the Center for American Progress, where she focused on transatlantic relations and international security. She holds a B.A. in History from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dr. Alex Bollfrass | Research Fellow
Alex is a senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He was previously a Stanton nuclear security postdoctoral fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center and an associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Alex was a nuclear weapons policy researcher at the Arms Control Association and Stimson Center, before earning a Ph.D. in security studies from Princeton University.
Joel Burke | Research Fellow
Joel Burke is a former AI Fellow for Senator Mike Rounds, supporting the office on AI, technology, and security issues. Previously, he worked in a variety of roles and geographies including in Tallinn as Head of Business Development for e-Residency, the Republic of Estonia’s flagship digital initiative. Other experiences include working as a fellow in Cameroon staffed to a local startup via Venture for Africa; serving as a NYCx Fellow; working as a Partner at Tribe.AI, a managed marketplace for top AI talent; and leading a venture for a Rocket Internet AG subsidiary in Berlin. He started his career at a YC and Andreessen Horowitz backed startup. Joel is passionate about maximizing impact and likes operating at the intersection of tech, national security, and American dynamism.
Dr. Lula Chen | Research Fellow
Lula Chen is a Research Scientist with MIT GOV/LAB at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research interests include foreign policy decision-making, policy evaluation, bureaucracy, and governance, and she has worked on a number of evaluations with government agencies. She holds a BSFS and MA in international affairs from Georgetown University and a PhD in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Matt Malis | Research Fellow
Matt Malis is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Niehaus Center at Princeton University, and an incoming Assistant Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on questions of agency and delegation in foreign policy, using game-theoretic and quantitative methods.
Gary Gomez | Research Fellow
Gary has over 20 years of experience in the U.S. intelligence community, in government and as a consultant, working with DIA, NRO, NGA, DARPA, and the Office of Naval Intelligence. He also served as a Special Agent with the NCIS working in counterintelligence and executive protection. Gary is a published author on intelligence, airpower, and national security technology. He has taught intelligence studies for five years, and his research focuses on processes associated with intelligence support to foreign policy.
Moritz von Knebel | Research Fellow
Moritz von Knebel works on the intersection of emerging technologies and foreign policy. Leveraging his background in Political Science and Philosophy as well as his cross-sectoral and international work experience, he has previously published on institutions for future generations, safety standards in critical industries and the role of international coordination on Artificial Intelligence. Moritz is a Mercator Fellow for International Affairs, a Research Fellow at the Forethought Foundation and a consultant to the OECD.
Lindsey Michele | Research Fellow
Lindsey previously served as a research lead of analysis and decision-making at fp21. Additionally, she is a management consultant, with expertise in strategy development. Previously she was a US diplomat in four overseas posts in the Middle East, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere. Prior to joining the foreign Service, she was a staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Lindsey is pursuing her PhD in Strategic Leadership and speaks Arabic and Romanian.
Julia Mykhailiuk | Research Fellow
Julia's research explores the critical intersection of AI governance, democracy, and foreign policy as well as the impact of emerging technologies on societal well-being. Her academic background combines economics, strategic communications, and stakeholder management. She has extensive policy research experience from the USA, Belgium, the UK, Norway and Ukraine. Currently, Julia investigates the complexities of navigating international AI governance frameworks and researches patterns of systemic as well as correlated risks associated with multi-agent AI systems.
Advisors
Abby Markowitz
Abby is a Senior Consultant in Deloitte Government and Public Services, Strategy & Analytics practice. Through her work at Deloitte, Abby supported the establishment and growth of the Department of State’s Center for Analytics, the Department’s first enterprise-wide data science office. She holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Christina T. Le
Christina T. Le joined the Foreign Service in 2009 and has served in Mexico, Greece and Japan, as well as in Washington, D.C. She was president of the Asian American Foreign Affairs Association from 2015 to 2018. She was a co-recipient of the 2017 William R. Rivkin Award for Constructive Dissent and a National Security Fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
Tawnie McNeil
Tawnie is the Foreign Policy Advisor, Special Operations Command North (SOCNORTH), headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado. A career member of the Foreign Service, she has served at U.S. Embassy Riyadh, U.S. Embassy Muscat, Oman, U.S. Consulate Tijuana, Mexico, and U.S. Embassy Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Dr. Aaron Faust
Aaron holds a Ph.D. in Middle East History and Statecraft and is the author of The Ba'thification of Iraq: Saddam Hussein's Totalitarianism. He has served in several positions at the State Department, working mainly on Iraq, Syria, and counter-ISIS issues. He is currently a Foreign Affairs Analyst in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
Alumni
Dr. Rachel George | Research Director
Rachel is an academic and research professional with a background in foreign policy analysis and international relations. She is the Director of Education Content at the Council on Foreign Relations and has previously worked at ODI and with UN Women, the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, Foreign Policy Analytics and others. She is a Lecturing Fellow at Duke University and holds a Ph.D in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Beverli DeWalt | Research Lead
Beverli brings almost two decades of experience at the State Department as well as a background in research, analysis, leadership and organizational management to the team. At State she focused on mainly on national security issues but also spent time on regional, economic, and science related policy in the department. She has a passion for creating enterprise-wide solutions, using data for decision making, and efficient systems. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Data Science.
Fabio van Loon | Research Lead
Fabio van Loon is an IFJ-accredited journalist and researcher with a background in U.S. space policy, European affairs, and international law. As a graduate student at Texas A&M’s Bush School in Washington, DC, and a graduate of LUISS University in Rome, he has worked for a number of U.S. and international organizations including the U.S. Air Force-affiliated Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs, The Heritage Foundation, and the Rome-based foreign policy review Atlantico Quotidiano.
John Wilcox | Research Lead
John is a cognitive scientist, epistemologist, and interdisciplinary scholar, having previously worked on several projects to improve intelligence analysis. He authored the book “Human Judgment” and obtained his PhD at Stanford University, where he was awarded the highly selective Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship. He also holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in philosophy, statistics and political science from the University of Auckland, where he was awarded the first-place prize in the political studies and international relations.
Nassim Ali Ahmad | Community Engagement Lead
Nassim is a graduate of Clark University, where he earned his B.A. in Economics and Political Science. He's previously worked as a policy fellow in congressional campaigns, a legislative intern in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and a grant writer for a global medical nonprofit, Global Smile Foundation. He is pursuing his MA in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Kosi Obguli | Communications Assistant
Kosi Ogbuli is an eclectic individual passionate about defining phenomena at the intersection of international relations, social justice, and sustainable development. He is an incoming MA candidate at Johns Hopkins SAIS where he will be exploring democratic erosion and the rise of digital authoritarianism in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Daniela Martinez | Research Assistant
Daniela is an undergraduate student at George Mason University, working towards a B.A. in both Chinese and Global Affairs. She previously served as a VSFS State Department intern, studying the PRC’s influence in the Southern Cone, specifically looking at economic activity along the Hidrovia. Daniela also received a Critical Language Scholarship to study Mandarin in 2021.
Manuel Antonio Gonzales | Research Assistant
Manuel obtained his Bachelor of Science and Arts degrees in Economics and International Studies from North Carolina State University. Manuel worked as an Economist in RTI International conducting economic evaluations for clients including Meta, the U.S Department of Defense, the U.S Department of State, the International Development Bank, the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), and others.
Jiwon Chung | Research Assistant
Jiwon Chung is a rising senior at Claremont McKenna College, majoring in Philosophy, Politics, & Economics (PPE) and Economics. Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Singapore, he spent two years in the Singapore Army for his mandatory national service commitment. He has experience in finance but is particularly interested in political and moral philosophy, economics, and data science.
Paul Terrell-Perica | Executive Assistant
Paul Terrell-Perica is a graduating senior at UC Berkeley studying Data Science with an Economics emphasis. His academic work, previous employment, and research projects have covered topics in data analysis, defense strategy, foreign policy, and statistical reasoning.
Marisa Jurczyk | Research Assistant
Marisa is a graduate student at Georgetown University studying Public Policy with an interest in foreign affairs and global cooperation. She previously worked in operations and community-building at several nonprofit organizations focused on promoting more evidence use by charities and other important institutions. Marisa graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University New Orleans.
Alexandra Blum | Research Assistant
Alexandra Blum is a senior at UC Berkeley studying economics with a minor in public policy. Her academic work and previous research experience have emphasized US foreign policy, international crises, macroeconomics, and data analysis. She is particularly interested in the effects the US government has had on the economies of South American countries and is currently studying for the LSAT in hopes of pursuing law school.
Sanjana Patel | Research Assistant
Sanjana Patel is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) with a concentration in Globalization and a minor in Consumer Psychology. Her research and academic interests include trade policy, international development, and foreign investment. At fp21, she hopes to examine the intersection of social psychology and foreign policy through the study of face-to-face diplomacy.
Toby Weed | Research Assistant
Toby is an alumnus of Middlebury College, from which he graduated summa cum laude with a BA in the Mathematical Sciences. He has previously conducted research projects in computer vision, graph theory, the mathematical foundations of data science, and applications of data science to the empirical analysis of governance systems. At fp21, he is interested in understanding whether and how mathematical science can convincingly benefit US policymaking.
Katherine Nakazono | Board Member
Katherine is a financial services regulatory attorney. She is currently product counsel at Stripe. She has worked as counsel for other FinTech firms in Silicon Valley and at Skadden Arps in Washington, D.C. Katherine was previously a member of the Public International Law and Policy Group, where she advised the Government of South Sudan.
Andrew Moore | Board Member
Andrew is Chief of Staff at Schmidt Futures and a former Foreign Service Officer. He received a J.D. from Stanford Law School and an M.B.A. from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He has also worked for Google X, Debevoise & Plimpton, and McKinsey & Company.
Donors
fp21 is grateful for the support we receive from our generous donors and foundations who make it possible for us to advance our mission. Supporters include:
A philanthropic initiative founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
Building a Stronger Future
Laidir Foundation
Survival and Flourishing Fund
Contact us.
Interested in collaborating with fp21? Have an idea for reform? A media inquiry? We’re excited to hear from you.