Commission Staff
Daniel Peck, Executive Director
Dan Peck is the Executive Director of the Commission, where he leads the Commission’s eighteen full-time professional staff members and provides support to the twelve Commissioners. In his role, he is responsible for Commission operations and budget, execution of the Commission’s annual hearing cycle, development and publication of the Annual Report to Congress, as well as staff development and overseeing all other activities of the Commission.
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Nargiza Salidjanova, Director, Economics and Trade
Nargiza Salidjanova is the Director for Economics and Trade with the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. In that position, she leads the Commission’s work on economics, trade, and innovation. She served as an analyst with the Commission from March 2008 to January 2015 and as a senior analyst from January 2015 to June 2015. Nargiza has published extensively on topics ranging from U.S.-China economic competition to China’s role in global governance.
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Benjamin Frohman, Director, Security and Foreign Affairs
Ben Frohman has been leading the Commission’s work on Chinese security and foreign affairs since July 2018. In this role, he oversees research and analysis on China’s People’s Liberation Army, military strategy and planning, leadership intentions, foreign affairs, cyber and space warfare, and proliferation activities. Prior to joining the Commission, Ben worked for over seven years at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), where he led a range of DIA and intelligence community analytic initiatives on critical U.S. national security issues.
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Jameson Cunningham, Director, Congressional Affairs and Communications
Jameson Cunningham is Congressional Affairs and Communications Director, where he leads the Commission’s outreach to Congress, the press, and the public. For 12 years, he has served in legislative and public affairs positions on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.
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Charles Horne, Director of Research and Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Charles Horne is Director of Research and a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade Team at the Commission, where he researches China’s technology gap with the United States. He was previously the regulatory licensing manager for PingPong Group, a Chinese fintech firm.
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Alexander Bowe, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Alexander Bowe is a Policy Analyst for Security and Foreign Affairs at the Commission, where he researches Chinese Communist Party influence operations, China’s space sector, China’s forced labor exports, and the People’s Liberation Army ground forces. Before joining the Commission in 2016, he was a research assistant on a project studying science diplomacy in the South China Sea.
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Kendra Brock, Research Assistant, Economics and Trade
Kendra Brock is a Research Assistant on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. She previously worked with CSIS’ Reconnecting Asia project researching the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative abroad, and prior to that interned with the Asia Society Policy Institute. She worked as an English teacher at a university in Wuhan, China for three years before graduating with an MA in International Relations and Diplomacy from Seton Hall University. She speaks Mandarin Chinese.
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Erik Castillo, Operations Support Specialist
Erik Castillo is the Operations Support Specialist on the Operations and Administration Team at the Commission, where he works on travel, finance, accounting, and IT. He has worked for the Commission since 2018.
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Alexis Dale-Huang, Research Assistant, Security and Foreign Affairs
Alexis Dale-Huang is a Research Assistant on the Security and Foreign Affairs Team at the Commission. She is currently studying for an MA in Asian Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She most recently worked as an intern at the Brookings Institution and was previously a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow for China Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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Kevin Fashola, Congressional Fellow
Kevin Fashola is a Congressional Fellow at the Commission, where he handles public outreach to Members of Congress, committees, and staff. He also supports both research teams with research, analysis, and outreach.
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Christopher Fioravante, Director of Operations and Administration
Christopher Fioravante is Director of Operations and Administration at the Commission, where he is responsible for budget and finance, contracting and procurement, and human capital management. He has worked for the Commission since 2008 and is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM).
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Will Green, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Will Green is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs Team at the Commission, where he researches China’s foreign policy, Chinese military issues, Chinese relations with Africa, Chinese relations with South Asia, and Chinese relations with Central Asia. He has worked for the Commission since 2019. He previously worked as a Policy Advisor to Congressman Chris Smith and served as a permanent staffer on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Sierra Janik, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Sierra Janik is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team at the Commission, where she researches China’s foreign policy and defense issues. Before joining the Commission staff in 2020, she worked as a research assistant at the China-Africa Research Initiative and interned with the Project 2049 Institute and the East-West Center in Washington.
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Anastasya Lloyd-Damnjanovic, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Anastasya (Ana) Lloyd-Damnjanovic is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs Team at the Commission, where she researches China’s foreign policy, Chinese defense issues, China-Russia relations, CCP influence operations, and Taiwan. She has worked for the Commission since 2019. Ana previously researched China’s influence activities as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
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Kaj Malden, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Kaj Malden is a Policy Analyst with the Economics and Trade team at the Commission, where his research interests include U.S.-China economic relations, Chinese industrial policy planning, economic coercion, and trends in China’s digital economy and its governance. Prior to joining the Commission in 2019, he was a Consultant with global business advisory firm APCO Worldwide in their Shanghai and Washington, D.C. offices, where he assessed Chinese economic and industrial policy developments to advise multinational firms in the financial services, healthcare, and technology sectors.
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Leyton Nelson , Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Leyton Nelson is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. Before joining the Commission in 2019, he was an Economist and Analytics Manager at China Beige Book. Leyton earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Asian Studies from the University of Michigan, his JD from the University of Michigan Law School, and his MA in International Economics and China Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he attended the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. He speaks Mandarin Chinese.
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Emma Rafaelof, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Emma Rafaelof is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. Before joining in 2020, Emma was a senior manager of policy for Asia at the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) where she focused on the cybersecurity, privacy, global standardization and international trade. Emma also previously interned at the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Office of China Affairs focusing on technology policy and intellectual property issues in the U.S.-China bilateral relationship. She holds a M.A.
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Howard Wang, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Howard Wang is a Policy Analyst for Security and Foreign Affairs at the Commission, where he researches emerging capabilities in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), Chinese influence in Southeast Asia, and the PLA Navy. Before joining the Commission staff in 2020, he was a management consultant at Guidehouse (formerly Navigant). Howard has published on China's influence on Indo-Pacific security architecture and continues researching Chinese maritime activities.
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