Anja Manuel

Former diplomat, author, and advisor on foreign policy, Anja Manuel is Co-Founder and Principal, along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, at Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC. This strategic consulting firm assists U.S. companies in navigating international markets.

Manuel authored the critically acclaimed "This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States," published by Simon and Schuster, and has penned numerous articles and papers. She is the Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum, a leading bipartisan forum on foreign policy in the U.S. Manuel served as an official at the U.S. Department of State from 2005-2007, where she was Special Assistant to the Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, overseeing Asia policy.

Earlier in her career, Manuel worked as an attorney at WilmerHale, focusing on Supreme Court and international cases, and representing clients before various U.S. government entities. She began her career in finance as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers in London. A cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and Stanford University, she lectured and was a research affiliate at Stanford University from 2009-2019. Manuel is a frequent speaker and commentator on foreign policy and technology policy for various media outlets including NBC/MSNBC, Bloomberg News, Fox Business, BBC, and NPR. Her writing has appeared in major publications such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs.

Currently, Manuel serves on the corporate boards of Ripple Labs Inc., a leading blockchain payments company, and Overseas Shipping Group, Inc., an NYSE-listed transportation company. She also contributes to the boards of the National Committee on US-China Relations and the American Ditchley Foundation. Additionally, Manuel is involved with advisory boards for Flexport Inc., Synapse Inc., and the Center for a New American Security. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Defense Policy Board for the U.S. Department of Defense. Manuel resides in San Francisco with her husband and two children.