Our Partners
Jennifer Hendrixson White
Jennifer is the Founder and Managing Partner of Scalare Advisors and a leading expert on national security issues related to China and the Indo-Pacific, foreign affairs and defense, international trade and economics, cyber, AI and emerging technologies. Jennifer served in senior positions across the U.S. government from 2010 to 2025 at the State Department, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate, as well as at the Pentagon, USINDOPACOM, and the National Security Council. Jennifer’s leadership was critical in the passage of major bipartisan legislation, including the Australia–UK–U.S. Security Partnership to streamline U.S. export controls and promote cooperation on high-end defense innovation between the U.S. and its allies. In addition, she negotiated complex bipartisan legislation to eliminate double-taxation for businesses in the U.S. and Taiwan and facilitate investment in the United States, including on advanced semiconductors. Throughout her career, Jennifer has worked closely with corporate executives, trade associations, nonprofits, think tank experts, and foreign governments to solve their most pressing challenges. She has a keen understanding of how Washington works and the impact of U.S. policy on businesses and organizations.
Jennifer has studied and worked in China and Southeast Asia, and earned a Master of Arts degree from the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies, where she focused on China, Southeast Asia and International Economics. She is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New American Security, and for 2025-2026, is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of International Studies (SAIS) Europe. She also serves on the board of a nonprofit that works with at-risk children in Africa, Asia and Latin-America. An avid outdoor sports enthusiast, Jennifer can be found rock-climbing, kayaking and snowboarding in the lower 48, or hiking in the Dolomites.
Anka Lee
Anka is a Partner at Scalare Advisors. He is a national security expert with over two decades of experience leading large teams in the public and private sectors. His senior government roles included Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia at the Pentagon, where he advanced bilateral defense relations with major allies and partners in the region and pursued collective action to meet growing security challenges in the Indo-Pacific. Prior to that, as USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator, he rallied like-minded countries to surge financial support for pressing global issues — from addressing Ukraine’s security needs to alleviating hunger to coordinating responses to China’s corrosive development practices globally. In between his stints in public service, Anka was a global policy manager at WhatsApp and a consultant to Fortune 500 companies.
From 2017–2020, Anka returned home to California and reimagined the international affairs director role at the California State Assembly, serving as chief adviser to Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon on international issues relevant to California. He created new bilateral initiatives with the governments of Mexico, Canada, Japan, and Germany, empowering state elected officials to address shared policy challenges with foreign counterparts — from climate to cross-border water pollution to data privacy. Earlier in his career, Anka was a news producer at KTVU-TV Fox 2 in Oakland covering national, state, and local campaigns and served as an aide at the California State Senate. While in high school, he led a four-year campaign that convinced voters to approve a $40 million bond to renovate public schools in the West Contra Costa School District.
He has written for and appeared on The Atlantic, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, Just Security, Foreign Policy, NBC, Newsweek, POLITICO, Time, and San Francisco Chronicle. Born in Hong Kong, raised in California, and a first-generation college graduate, Anka received his B.A. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and M.A. in East Asian studies from Harvard University. He also did graduate studies at the California State University, Sacramento, as part of the California Senate Fellows Program.
Elisa Ewers
Elisa is a Partner at Scalare Advisors. She is a leading voice in national security and foreign with over 25 years of experience as a chief advisor in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government, as a thought-leader and professor in think tanks and academia, and as a consultant in the private sector. She has worked on policy related to the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, counterterrorism and security cooperation, multilateral economics and multilateral institutions. She served in the Obama and George W. Bush administrations, at the National Security Council, Departments of State and Defense, at U.S. embassies, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and was selected for Senior Executive Service. Elisa led the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s work on Middle East and North Africa, Nonproliferation and Arms Control, and International Economic policy. She has tackled some of the thorniest national security issues, served as a principal counselor to the most senior leaders, and exercised oversight over billions of dollars in U.S. programs related to some of the most pressing foreign policy challenges of the day.
As an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, Elisa’s analysis appeared in such outlets as The Washington Post, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, War on the Rocks, BBC, CNN, and XM Radio. She served as an adjunct faculty member at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Prior to her government service, Elisa had a private sector career in consulting and institutional asset management with firms like Booz Allen Hamilton and Wellington Management Company. A first generation American, Elisa has lived and worked across Europe and the Middle East, and is a certified yoga instructor. She serves on the executive board of directors of the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society, and is an adjunct senior fellow in RAND’s national security division.
Michael Schiffer
Michael Schiffer is a Partner at Scalare Advisors, and brings over two decades of leadership in U.S. foreign policy, defense strategy, and international development. He most recently served as the Assistant Administrator for Asia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where he directed U.S. development policy and programming across more than 30 countries in the Indo-Pacific with a staff of 1,500 and over $3 billion in program management. Prior to USAID, Schiffer was senior advisor and counselor to the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and earlier served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia (2009–2012), overseeing U.S. defense relationships with key regional allies during a pivotal era of strategic realignment. While at the Department of Defense he created extended deterrence working groups for both Japan and the Republic of Korea, oversaw the Department’s response to the 3-11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, spearheaded $8 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, spearheaded major posture initiatives with regional allies, and helped lead US strategic engagement in the Indo-Pacific. Michael is recognized for his deep networks across Washington and Asia, sharp geopolitical insight, and practical expertise navigating the intersection of government policy, private-sector risk, and international opportunity.
Michael has held senior roles at the Stanley Foundation, was a Council on Foreign Relations Hitachi International Affairs fellow in Japan, and directed international security programs at the Center for War Peace and the News Media at New York University, including directing innovative security partnerships in Central Europe after the collapse of communism and managing the Center’s Moscow office. He was an adjunct professor in the Department of Politics, George Washington University and co-manager of the Poipu Bed and Breakfast Inn in Kauai. He is currently an associate fellow in the trade, technology and geoeconomics program of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.