Alexander Kersten

Alexander Kersten is deputy director and a fellow of the Renewing American Innovation Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). His research with the RAI Project focuses on U.S. innovation policy, data security, and regional innovation hubs and has been quoted in Bloomberg. From January to November 2021, he served as acting director of the RAI Project, during which time he oversaw and led the creation and subsequent development of the program. He also previously worked at CSIS from 2015 to 2018 as special assistant and executive officer to president and CEO John Hamre, where he managed projects and operations for the Executive Office at CSIS. While in this role, he also served as a coeditor for CSIS’s foreign affairs journal for junior staff, New Perspectives in Foreign Policy, and as a board member on the CSIS Service Committee. Mr. Kersten holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in history and Arab and Islamic studies from Villanova University.