Press Release
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has named Michael Blake Greenwald a Fellow. While at the Kennedy School, Greenwald, who has served the U.S. government in several senior roles, will lecture, conduct research, and engage with students on a range of issues including economic sanctions, illicit finance, national security, intelligence, and global finance.
“From the Treasury Department to the intelligence community to serving as a senior Treasury diplomat in the Middle East, Michael has done critically important work to limit the ability of America’s enemies to fund terrorist attacks,” said former Secretary of Defense and current Belfer Center Director Ash Carter. “We are honored to have him join our community of researchers committed to a more secure, peaceful world.”
“I am honored to join the incredible team at the Belfer Center, which has led the way in advancing the conversation in international security and diplomatic issues facing the United States and around the world,” said Greenwald. “At such a critical juncture and moment in our nation’s history, I am looking forward to working with the deep bench of leaders and scholars at the Belfer Center to tackle the threat posed by illicit financing, the changing nature of financial warfare, and the economic sanctions landscape.”
Greenwald served with the United States Treasury in positions working with Africa, Europe, and as a financial diplomat in the Middle East, spanning the tenures of U.S. Treasury Secretaries Timothy Geithner, Jacob Lew, and Steven Mnuchin. Most recently, he served as the first United States Treasury Attaché appointed to Qatar and Kuwait and opened the Treasury Department’s office in Doha, Qatar in August 2015. Prior to that role, Greenwald served as the United States Treasury Policy Advisor for Europe. In this role, he was appointed as the head of the United States Delegation to the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism before the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France. Greenwald was part of the U.S. Treasury team that crafted U.S. sanctions against Russia, the largest U.S. sanctions program to date, and negotiated similar sanctions by Europe.
He has also served in a variety of U.S. Treasury roles in the U.S. Intelligence Community and in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Treasury, working closely with the National Security Council at the White House in developing and implementing sanctions against ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Ukraine/Russia, Syria, and North Korea.
Since leaving the federal government in July 2017, Greenwald serves as the Senior Vice President of Tiedemann Advisors. He is a senior member of the firm’s business development strategy team. He works closely with clients to understand and help implement their goals and objectives. Greenwald is also the Senior Advisor to the President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, Fred Kempe, and serves as the Special Advisor on International Affairs to the President and CEO of Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Laurie Glimcher.
Greenwald is an Adjunct Professor at The Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where he teaches Global Policy: Countering Terrorist Financing and The New Normal of Economic Statecraft in the Middle East.
A frequent speaker on international security, the Middle East, and illicit finance issues, Greenwald's past speaking engagements include lectures at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Institute, the Atlantic Council, Harvard University, Yale Law School, Stanford, Columbia University, and Northwestern Business School in Doha. Greenwald earned a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law, a Master of Arts from Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from George Washington University. He is a graduate of St. Marks School in Southborough, Massachusetts.