Commission Staff
Daniel Peck, Executive Director
Dan Peck is the Executive Director of the Commission, where he leads the Commission’s full-time professional staff and provides support to the twelve Commissioners. In this 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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Charles Horne, Director, Economics and Trade
Charles Horne is the Director of Economics and Trade with the Commission. In that position, he leads the Commission’s work on trade, investment, and innovation. He was previously the regulatory licensing manager for PingPong Group, a Chinese fintech firm. Before working in regulatory compliance, Charles served as senior research manager at China Policy, a Beijing-based consultancy and information service, where he led development of a research database to track China’s WTO compliance and wrote extensively on China’s stock market, state-owned enterprise reform, and fiscal system.
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Anastasya Lloyd-Damnjanovic, Director, Security and Foreign Affairs
Anastasya (Ana) Lloyd-Damnjanovic is the Director of Security and Foreign Affairs at the Commission, where she has worked since 2019. Ana previously researched China-related issues as a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. She is the author of A Preliminary Study of PRC Political Influence and Interference Activities in American Higher Education (Wilson Center, 2018). Ana earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University, graduating with high honors and the Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Scholarship.
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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 more than a decade, he has served in legislative and public affairs positions on Capitol Hill and in the private sector.
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Sierra Janik, Director of Research and Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Sierra Janik is Director of Research and a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team at the Commission, where she conducts research and oversees the Commission’s contracted research agenda.
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Graham Ayres, Research Assistant, Economics and Trade
Graham Ayres is a Research Assistant on the Economics and Trade team, joining the Commission in 2023. He most recently worked as a campaign manager and political staffer in New Hampshire. Prior to that, he studied and lived in Taiwan for two years on a Fulbright scholarship, where his research centered on international development and food assistance programs. Graham received a B.A. in economics from the University of New Hampshire, and a M.S. in agricultural economics from National Taiwan University. He speaks and reads Mandarin Chinese.
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Daniel Blaugher, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Daniel Blaugher is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. He most recently worked as a graduate research assistant at the University of California, San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. Prior to that, he also worked as a research assistant at Peking University HSBC Business School and as a project assistant on the Bank of England’s Decision Maker Panel.
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Rachael Burton, Senior Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Rachael Burton is a Senior Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team at the Commission. She previously served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) from 2019 to 2023 as the Country Director for China. Prior to joining the Department of Defense (DoD), she was the Deputy Director at the Project 2049 Institute where she managed the Institute’s research and programming. She has previously worked at the Carnegie China Center and the National Bureau for Asian Research. Rachael is pursuing her Master’s at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program.
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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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Lauren (Greenwood) Menon, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Lauren (Greenwood) Menon joined the Commission as a Congressional Fellow in 2021 and became a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team in 2022. Prior to her time at the Commission, she served in the U.S. Senate. She also previously worked as a policy analyst for a D.C.-based government relations firm that worked to bridge the gap between technology companies and Members of Congress.
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Andrew Hartnett, Research Fellow, Security and Foreign Affairs
Andrew Hartnett is a Research Fellow for the Security and Foreign Affairs team, joining in September 2022 as a Research Assistant. Prior to joining the Commission, Hartnett worked as a Liu Xiaobo Fellow at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, where he focused on human rights abuses perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party. He also served as a fellow at the U.S. Army’s Foreign Military Studies Office, and interned at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the American Foreign Policy Council.
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Nicholas Kaufman, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Nicholas Kaufman is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. He was previously a graduate research assistant at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). At SAIS he also gained experience working at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and at the Department of Commerce. Prior to that, he was a Fulbright researcher tracking economic development policy in China’s Anhui Province.
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Ryan Mangefrida, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Ryan Mangefrida is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team at the Commission. He previously served as a Budget Analyst at the Department of Defense (DoD) managing the execution of part of the Department’s Science and Technology portfolio. Prior to his employment at DoD, he worked as a research specialist at a Virginia-based business intelligence firm. Ryan graduated with a Bachelor’s in International & Global Studies and Political Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Ryan acquired Chinese language capabilities while living and studying in Shanghai.
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Jonathan Roberts, Congressional Liaison
Jonathan Roberts joined the Commission as a Congressional Fellow in 2022 and was promoted to Congressional Liaison in January 2023, where he helps with outreach to Congress, the press, and the public, in addition to performing research.
Prior to his time at the Commission, Jonathan served in the U.S. Senate primarily as a national security aide working on issues related to East Asia and international human rights. He also previously worked in the Texas House of Representatives on energy issues.
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Jonathon P. Sine, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Jon Sine is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. Prior to joining the Commission he worked on the China team at Rhodium Group, researching China's banking system and industrial policies. Jon earned an MA in International Political Economy from Johns Hopkins SAIS, concentrating on China's domestic economy. At SAIS, Jon served as Web Editor of The SAIS Review, the school’s academic journal, while working as Research Assistant to Professor Daniel Markey during publication of his book, China's Western Horizon.
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Aubrey Waddick, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Aubrey Waddick is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. Prior to joining, she was the director of research policy for a non-profit in Annapolis, Maryland. She received a PhD in Political Science and Asian Studies from Penn State in 2022, where she conducted research on China’s external economic relations as a National Science Foundation fellow. Aubrey holds an MA in Political Science from Penn State, and a BA in Political Science and Economics from Augustana College.
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