EURASIA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Commercial Officer
- Head
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Board Member of the World Affairs Council of New Jersey
Alex Kazan is Eurasia Group's chief commercial officer, head of the firm's "OneEG" initiative, and a member of the management team. In these roles, Alex works closely across the firm's business units and research teams on developing and executing overall commercial strategy, helping bring the best of Eurasia Group to our clients. Alex directs many of Eurasia Group's strategic partnerships, working closely with the world's biggest companies and investors to help them understand, anticipate, and plan for geopolitical change. As a speaker, Alex frequently addresses management teams, boards, investment committees, and global conferences about geopolitical developments and their impact on business and the markets.
Before joining Eurasia Group, Alex worked as a market strategist at Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Asset Management, and Bear Stearns. Earlier in his career, he worked at the G7 Group, an economic and policy research consultancy, and the Inter-American Development Bank.
Alex is currently a board member of the World Affairs Council of New Jersey, a non-profit organization dedicated to public education on global affairs through local programming and community events. He holds degrees from the University of California, Davis, and Georgetown University. Alex was born in San Francisco and now lives in Harding Township, New Jersey.
Job Titles:
- Chief Communications Officer
- Managing Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
As managing director and chief communications officer, Alexsandra Sanford manages all internal and external communications and marketing for Eurasia Group and its subsidiaries. She also works with key clients to create world-class communications strategies.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Sales Operations
Based in London, Annette manages existing relationships with Eurasia Group's Global Markets clients and finds new business and sales opportunities across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In addition to her business development role, she develops and implements product strategies for new and existing Eurasia Group products and services.
Prior to joining the firm, Annette worked at Bloomberg, where she managed accounts in Germany, Switzerland, and the UK, while gaining experience in financial technology and data. She has a bachelor's degree in Arabic and politics and a master's degree in international relations. Her strong interest in understanding the interrelation of business and politics, particularly how political risk management can make a difference to an organization's strategic outlook, has led her to pursue a master of business administration focused on strategy practice and development. Annette has lived in five countries across three continents and enjoys learning languages.
Job Titles:
- Director, Client Services
Candace Palangi leverages her sales and marketing background in investment and financial services for EG clients. This includes experience with global macro research and advisory services, risk management and portfolio analytics software applications and tools, hedge funds, structured credit products, and wealth management.
Candace was previously senior vice president at Decision Economics in New York responsible for sales, marketing, and client service. She has likewise spent time at High Frequency Economics, Dow Jones, Markov Processes International, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse. She graduated cum laude from Boston College's Carroll School of Management with a bachelor of science degree in finance and is a CFA charterholder. Regardless of snow, hail, or subfreezing temperatures, Candace, in her Maine hunting shoes, enjoys grilling outdoors preparing for her farm-to-table soirees.
Job Titles:
- Senior Analyst, Latin America
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
As the firm's chief operating officer, Cassandra manages the day-to-day operations of business services, sales operations, legal affairs, and compliance. She oversees change management initiatives with the leaders of IT, HR, finance, research, and client services. Cassandra has been with the firm since joining in 2006 as the office manager of its DC office and then moving on to roles across operations and client services, including as the head of client engagement for US Corporate Client Services, where she handled some of the firm's largest strategic and corporate relationships. In 2018, Cassandra became the firm's director in charge of strategic operations as a liaison between the finance, HR, IT, research management, and business development departments.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Managing Director for the Americas
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Executive
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chairman / Media Inquiries
Cliff Kupchan is Eurasia Group's chairman, as well as director of research and leader of the firm's global macro coverage. Cliff has held high-level positions in the US government and regularly meets top foreign leaders. He provides cutting-edge insights on political risk. Cliff has been a leading expert on international relations for more than two decades-in academia, as a US official, and in the private sector-and he speaks frequently to private and public sector audiences. He regularly briefs clients on macro developments and is co-author of Eurasia Group's annual Top Risks publication.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Trump Decertifies Iran 's Nuclear Deal: What Does It Mean
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor
- Senior Advisor / Media Inquiries
Fox Carney holds master's degrees in agricultural economics and international relations from Oxford University and the University of Pennsylvania, respectively. She is based in Ottawa, Canada.
Job Titles:
- Director, Client Services
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Client Services
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Senior Advisor
- Vice Chairman
Job Titles:
- Director, Communications
- As Eurasia Group 's Director of Communications
As Eurasia Group's director of communications, Gregory Roth is responsible for helping to build and protect the company's brand through effective broadcast, print, and social media exposure. Based in New York, he has held senior communications roles at Prudential Financial, BMI Research, and J.P. Morgan Asset Management. A journalist by training, Greg has spent much of his career as a reporter, editor, and broadcast producer at Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNBC.
Greg holds a bachelor's degree in history and political science from Duke University, a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, and a master of business administration from Columbia Business School. A native of California, Greg has also lived in Hong Kong and Oslo, and he has strong opinions about Aquavit. He loves biking, trivia, and cooking.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- President
- Scientist
Ian Bremmer is a political scientist who helps business leaders, policy makers, and the general public make sense of the world around them. He is president and founder of Eurasia Group, the world's leading political risk research and consulting firm, and GZERO Media, a company dedicated to providing intelligent and engaging coverage of international affairs. Ian is an independent voice on critical issues around the globe, offering clearheaded insights through speeches, written commentary, and even satirical puppets (really!).
Ian is credited with bringing the craft of political risk to financial markets, creating Wall Street's first global political risk index (GPRI), and for establishing political risk as an academic discipline. His definition of emerging markets- "those countries where politics matters at least as much as economics for market outcomes"-has become an industry standard. "G-Zero," his term for a global power vacuum in which no country is willing and able to set the international agenda, is widely used by policymakers and thought leaders.
A prolific writer, Ian is the author of eleven books, including two New York Times bestsellers, "Us vs Them: The Failure of Globalism" which examines the rise of populism across the world, and his latest book "The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats-and Our Response-Will Change the World" which details a trio of looming global crises (health emergencies, climate change, and technological revolution) and outlines how governments, corporations, and concerned citizens can use these crises to create global prosperity and opportunity.
He is the host of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, which airs weekly on US national public television. Ian is also a frequent guest on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, the BBC, Bloomberg, and many other television stations around the world. He also serves as the foreign affairs columnist and editor at large for Time magazine.
Ian earned a master's degree and a doctorate in political science from Stanford University, where he went on to become the youngest-ever national fellow at the Hoover Institution. He received his bachelor's degree in international relations from Tulane University. He currently teaches at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and previously was a professor at New York University.
Ian established Eurasia Group with just $25,000 in 1998. Today, the company has offices in New York, Washington, San Francisco, London, Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Singapore, and Tokyo, as well as a network of experts and resources in 90 countries.
He lives in New York City with his wife Ann and their wily Norfolk Terrier, Moose.
Job Titles:
- Associate, Client Services
Jonathan works for the client services team in Sao Paulo and will help the firm's Brazilian offices to expand their customer base and support senior management.
Before joining Eurasia Group, Jonathan worked at Booking.com as a finance analyst and at BNP Paribas in the coverage and investment banking department. He has a bachelor's degree in public administration with a minor in international relations from Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo and participated in a student exchange program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A supporter of soccer team Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, Jonathan's musical tastes range from heavy metal to Brazilian popular music.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Managing Director, Corporates
Justin Shepherd leads Eurasia Group's corporates business, engaging with corporate and government clients around the world on key strategic macro and political issues. His work includes projects in strategic planning, market assessment and prioritization, risk management, scenario planning, strategic foresight, and competitiveness.
Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Justin was an engagement manager with A.T. Kearney, based in Washington and Dubai. He joined as a member of the firm's Global Business Policy Council, a unit focusing on strategic macroeconomic and political issues, and later was a member of the Government and Economic Development Practice. Justin was also a project manager at the World Economic Forum (on secondment from A.T. Kearney), working on personal data and privacy issues. He earned a master of business administration degree, with a concentration in international business, and a master's degree in international relations, both from George Washington University. He also earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and classics from St. John's College. When not with his two young children, Justin spends his free time pursuing his culinary interests and restoring vintage BMWs.
Job Titles:
- Director, Programming and Executive Operations
Based in New York in the Office of the President, Kim Tran manages and develops executive relationships for firm founder Ian Bremmer.
Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Kim earned a master's degree in public policy and administration from the London School of Economics and is also a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. She can regularly be found honing her dodgeball skills, which is only sometimes useful in the office.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor on Technology
Marietje Schaake is a senior advisor on technology, policy, and geopolitics with a public sector focus. As part of her new role, she is launching a weekly video series on GZERO Media called "Cyber In 60 Seconds," which will discuss major issues in technology and policy. It is part of GZERO's "In 60 Seconds" video franchise, where well-known commentators such as Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group's founder, and Carl Bildt, Sweden's former prime minister, share their insights on big geopolitical stories. She also currently serves as the international policy director of the Cyber Policy Center at Stanford University and as president of the Cyber Peace Institute.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, Japan Client Services
Masatoshi "Tosh" Asaoka manages strategic relationships with both Japanese partners and global clients with operations in Japan. He also develops new business opportunities with existing and prospective clients. Tosh works with his team members on the client services team and coordinates with analysts and colleagues from other parts of the firm around the globe.
Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Tosh worked for Oliver Wyman in Tokyo where he interacted with financial institutions in Japan and other parts of the Asia Pacific region. He holds a master's degree in Asia Studies from the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, and a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from Akita International University. While he was in Washington, DC, Tosh also worked as a congressional fellow for a US congressman on the Foreign Affairs Committee. A film buff, he is on a mission to visit all the movie theaters in Tokyo.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- As Chief Executive Officer
- CEO on Geopolitical Risks Pressing the Economy
- Chief Executive Officer / Media Inquiries
As Chief Executive Officer, Maziar Minovi is responsible for directing firm strategy and leading oversight of research, sales, and operations teams across Eurasia Group's global offices.
Maziar has twenty-five years of experience investing in international and emerging markets. He was a senior member of the Investment Strategy Group at Goldman Sachs, where he identified investment opportunities in emerging markets-including in debt, equities, and currencies-as well as geopolitical and global policy issues with market impact. Prior to that, Maziar was the head of the Emerging Markets Group at MassMutual/Babson Capital Management. He has also worked for the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Long Term Capital Management (LTCM), Putnam Investment Management, and the World Bank.
Maziar holds a doctorate in international finance and economic development, a master of business administration, and a bachelor of business administration from George Washington University. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Maziar's passion for international politics started involuntarily when the Iranian Revolution interrupted his teenage years.
Nick works directly alongside Eurasia Group CEO Maziar Minovi and is responsible for a range of strategic initiatives across the firm. These include helping to manage global markets advisory research and relationships with institutional investors and financial firms. Nick started his career as a China analyst at Eurasia Group in 2008 and helped build the firm's industry-leading China practice. He was appointed director and lead China analyst in 2014. In 2016, Nick left Eurasia Group to assemble a political and country risk practice at FTI Consulting in New York, and he later served as a director at Rhodium Group, leading its China Macro & Policy group. He returned to Eurasia Group in 2019.
Nick holds a master's degree in Asian studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and a bachelor's degree in political science and Asian studies from Furman University. He is currently completing a master of business administration in asset management at Yale University. He is also a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations. In his free time, Nick enjoys tennis, golf, and spending time with his wife and chocolate lab. He also is known to freelance as Eurasia Group's top internal resource on all matters pertaining to his home state of South Carolina.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Executive Director, Office of Management
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Managing Director, Global Markets
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chief Treasury Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Human Resources Officer
- Member of the Leadership Team
- As Chief Human Resources Officer
As chief human resources officer, Rosie Allan plays a key role in helping Eurasia Group execute its ambitious plans. With more than 20 years of experience managing human capital in the financial services and consulting industries, she brings deep expertise and a significant background in diversity and inclusion to the role.
Rosie comes to Eurasia Group from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), where she was senior director for talent management, learning, and culture. Prior to that, Rosie worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, where she held several people strategy positions, including as head of the consultancy's diversity and inclusion efforts.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Managing Director, Office of the President
As managing director of the Office of the President, Sarah drives the strategic direction of the office, including President Ian Bremmer's engagement across Eurasia Group's core business units.
Prior to joining Eurasia Group, Sarah spent more than a decade focusing on public-private partnerships and management in public service, the non-profit sector, and politics. She ran the briefing program for the vice-presidential candidate on Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. She also served as the director of programming in the Office of Chelsea Clinton at the Clinton Foundation where she coordinated Chelsea's involvement in advancing the foundation's programmatic objectives. Before moving to New York, Sarah served as a protocol officer at the US Department of State where she was responsible for the diplomatic gifts given on behalf of the president, first lady, vice president, and secretary of state. She also served as a foreign affairs officer in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues.
Sarah holds a master's degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Furman University. In her free time, she enjoys drinking a good cup of coffee and doing crossword puzzles.