Commission Staff
Mike Castellano, Executive Director
Mike Castellano joined the Commission as Executive Director in May 2024. Previously, he was serving as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry & Security (BIS), where he led various special projects and stakeholder outreach relating to export control policy and the Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) authority for the Office of the Under Secretary.
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Christopher Fioravante, Deputy Executive Director
Christopher Fioravante is Deputy Executive Director of the Commission, where he leads the Commission’s operations and administration. In this role he is responsible for budget and finance, contracting and procurement, and human capital management. He has worked for the Commission in various positions since 2008. He is a graduate of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and is a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM).
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Walter Hutchens, Director, Economics and Trade
Walter Hutchens joined the Commission staff as Director, Economics and Trade in January 2024 after two decades as a professor specializing in commercial law, China, and international business. Immediately prior to joining the Commission staff, he was the director of a University of Arizona law school program in Qingdao, China that enrolled more than 450 students who received law degrees from both the University of Arizona and a Chinese partner institution. He taught courses on U.S. Constitutional law; legal research, analysis and writing; and basics of contracts and torts.
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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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Sarah Anderson, Operations Specialist
Sarah Anderson serves as the Operations Specialist at the Commission where she manages a portfolio consisting of travel, procurement, budget execution, IT support, and special projects. She previously worked as a government contractor at the Department of Homeland Security, Library of Congress, and the National Air and Space Museum. Sarah holds an MA in History from the University of Georgia.
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Graham Ayres, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Graham Ayres is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team, joining the Commission as a Research Assistant 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.
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Matthew J. Dagher-Margosian, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Matthew J. Dagher-Margosian is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. Previously a tech analyst at Trivium China, Matt’s work on China can also be found on: Wire China, China Labour Bulletin, The China Project, Jamestown China Brief, The Diplomat, Living Otherwise, and Bloomberg. In 2023, he received his Masters in International Studies from Simon Fraser University, specializing in U.S.-China technology policy and Xinjiang. Prior to returning to North America, he spent several years studying Chinese in China and Taiwan.
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Benton Gordon, Research Assistant, Economics and Trade
Benton Gordon is a Research Assistant on the Economics and Trade team. He previously worked as an editorial assistant at the National Bureau of Asian Research. Prior to that, Benton served as a Liu Xiaobo Fellow with the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan. His past research has focused on China’s data privacy regulation and Taiwan’s role in global internet governance. Benton holds an MA in China and Taiwan Studies from the University of Washington and a BM in Flute Performance from the Eastman School of Music.
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Niels Graham, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Niels Graham is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission. He previously was an associate director for the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center where he managed the center’s research on the Chinese economy and U.S. international economic policy in the Indo-Pacific. He has also worked at McLarty Associates, the Albright Stonebridge Group, as well the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he was awarded the Pearce Prize. His analysis and commentary have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Nikkei Asia, and Bloomberg, among others.
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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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Zoe Merewether, Policy Analyst, Economics and Trade
Zoe Merewether is Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team and joined the Commission as a Research Assistant in 2024. She has four years of experience in technology, media, and telecommunications corporate and investment banking at institutions focused on China and the broader APAC region. As a graduate student in international economics at the Hopkins Nanjing Center at Nanjing University, Zoe wrote and defended her thesis on Chinese foreign direct investment in Japan’s service economy in Mandarin Chinese. She holds a B.A.
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Nicole Morgret, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Nicole Morgret is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team. Prior to joining the Commission in 2023, she worked as an analyst on the Center for Advanced Defense Studies’ (C4ADS) Human Security team and as project manager at the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP). She has a MA from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.
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Jack Neubauer, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Jack Neubauer is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team. Prior to joining the Commission, he worked as an Assistant Professor of History at National Chengchi University in Taiwan, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses on modern Chinese history and the history of U.S.-China relations, including courses taught fully in Mandarin. He previously worked as a Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow for the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, where he taught seminars for core courses on global affairs and China’s politics, economy, and society.
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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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Evan Ulman, Administrative Assistant
Evan Ulman serves as the Commission’s Administrative Assistant. His previous career experience includes internships in local and federal government and as a paralegal at a federal employment law firm. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Washington, Seattle, having graduated with College Honors.
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Cindy Zheng, Policy Analyst, Security and Foreign Affairs
Cindy Zheng is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team. Prior to joining the Commission, she was a research assistant at RAND Corporation conducting research on U.S.-China competition across military, security, and political domains. She has also interned at the State Department’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs, the Brookings Institution, and for a U.S. Member of Congress. Cindy received her B.A. in International Studies with minors in Asian Studies and Economics from American University.
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