Anna Morris is a principal in the Public Policy Practice and a leading expert in national security and financial policy, bringing more than 20 years of experience shaping economic statecraft initiatives with far-reaching impacts on markets and industry.
Anna advises US domestic and international clients on a broad range of geopolitical risk and financial policy issues, translating geopolitical shocks into responsive strategies to exploit opportunities and manage risk. Known for her strategic judgment, she is a trusted adviser to senior leaders, and a highly respected collaborator with foreign governments and industry partners on complex challenges, including international sanctions, anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) standards, and cryptocurrency regulations.
Anna’s distinguished government career spanned over two decades and five presidential administrations, and her work on critical national security and economic statecraft issues influenced the decisions of the Treasury secretary, National Security Council and, ultimately, the president. As acting assistant secretary of the treasury for terrorist financing, she drove strategies to combat the financing of critical threats to US national security, protect the US and global financial systems from abuse, and facilitate legitimate international financial flows through the smart and innovative use of financial measures.
Anna’s leadership was instrumental to Treasury’s and the White House’s responses to some of the most significant threats to American national security. In her senior executive roles, Anna drove Treasury-wide efforts to address financial risks, including peer competition with China, global terrorism, drug trafficking and the evolution of cryptocurrencies, among many others. She was a key policymaker in the US government’s innovative multilateral financial pressure campaign on terrorism financing concerning Russia, the Middle East and Latin America.
Anna also supported partner countries in addressing illicit finance risks to establish sustainable correspondent banking relationships, and provided guidance to financial institutions to facilitate cross-border financial flows. She has worked with vulnerable jurisdictions around the world, including in the Caribbean and Pacific, to support the reform of their AML/CFT regimes critical to securing international banking relationships.
Over the course of her government career, Anna served in multiple senior leadership positions. She is a recipient of multiple honors, including the Salmon P. Chase Award and the Treasury Medal, both awarded by the US secretary of the treasury.
Anna began her career at The Atlantic, before moving to a US Senate office and then to the State Department as a presidential management fellow in 2004, where she subsequently worked on Middle East and UN Security Council issues, including serving in Baghdad as the special assistant to the US ambassador from 2011 to 2012. Prior to joining Treasury, Anna was also a contributing editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, where she wrote about Chinese economic issues. Anna holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the College of the Holy Cross.