Title: Two MSFS Alumnae selected as Next Generation Class of 2021 National Security Leaders

The Fellowship brings together twenty six young professionals from across the national security field to learn best practices and lessons in leadership. Next Gen fellows will have the opportunity to engage with thought leaders on leadership principles and national security through various engagements.

Annika is a Foreign Service Officer currently serving in a dual role as a Peru desk officer and as Deputy Director for the Office of Andean Affairs. She recently finished a visiting fellowship at the Brookings Institution as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow focusing on confidence-building between the United States and North Korea. Previously, she served abroad in Afghanistan, Greece, and Mexico.

She was selected as a Thomas Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellow in 2009, and as current President of the Pickering and Rangel Fellows Association (PRFA) she leads the organization’s efforts to increase diversity and inclusion broadly at the State Department.

“Annika truly embodies excellence through her sharp intellect and numerous accomplishments all while lifting others up through genuine and intentional mentorship. Personally, as a first-generation college student and Latina, Annika’s excellence truly serves as an inspiration for me. She has taught me to wear my background as a badge of honor and to be confident in what I have to bring to the table. Through countless hours of conversations she has asked me thought-provoking questions that have helped me navigate my personal, academic and professional goals as I prepare to enter the Foreign Service in 2022,” said Elizabeth Pantaleon (MSFS ’22) and Picking Fellow mentee of Annika.

Stacie currently serves as Vice President and Producer of Deep State Radio Podcast Network, a popular foreign affairs, national security and politics podcast featuring discussions with leading newsmakers in the field. Prior to her current position, Stacie served as an Obama Administration appointee at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, where she supported the Under Secretary’s work in the export control field.

Prior to her pivot to international affairs, Stacie enjoyed a 13-year career as a professional ballet dancer, touring nationally and internationally, and served as a State Department cultural ambassador in South Asia, where she utilized dance to support U.S. foreign policy objectives and public diplomacy programming in the region.

“I am excited to join the 2021 Shawn Brimley Next Generation National Security Leaders cohort at the Center for New American Security. I joined the MSFS community only weeks after retiring from my professional dance career. MSFS welcomed me with open arms and fostered a sense of leadership and intellectual curiosity crucial to my success thus far. Equipped with the analysis and communications skills I developed at Georgetown, I can confidently delve into opportunities like the CNAS fellowship and contribute my unique viewpoint as an artist and future policymaker,” Stacie Williams

MSFS Deputy Director, Prof. Nicole Bibbins Sedaca congratulated Stacie, “I am thrilled that Stacie was selected as a Shawn Brimley Next Gen National Security Fellow at CNAS. She will bring tremendous energy and insight from her work in the U.S. Government and Rothkopf Group. So well earned!”