Michele Malvesti

Meet Michele

Michele Malvesti, Ph.D., is a senior national security executive with experience across the private sector, academia, U.S. government, and various boards of directors and advisory boards and committees.

Private Sector

Dr. Malvesti currently serves as a Vice President with the Financial Integrity Network, where she spearheads programs that help institutions and jurisdictions combat illicit finance. Previously, she served as a Vice President in the National Security Sector at Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, and with its successor company, Leidos, developing strategic initiatives to expand each company’s business base in the national security arena.

Academia

Dr. Malvesti currently serves as a Visiting Professor with the University of Texas at Austin and as a Senior National Security Fellow with the university’s Strauss and Clements Centers. She previously served as Professor of Practice in International Security Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Prior to her appointment at Fletcher, she was a Lecturer and Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. Dr. Malvesti also has served as a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

U.S. Government

During her time in government, Dr. Malvesti served more than five years on the National Security Council (NSC) staff during the George W. Bush Administration, including as the Senior Director for Combating Terrorism Strategy. She briefly returned to the White House in 2009 in order to co-chair the Presidential Study Review that reformed the White House organization for homeland security and counterterrorism on behalf of the Obama Administration. She began her career in government as an analyst in the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards & Committees

Dr. Malvesti currently serves on the Director’s Advisory Board for the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the Board of Directors for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. She also is a member of the Editorial Board of the Army Cyber Institute’s Cyber Defense Review. In 2019 she became an advisor to the Support to SOCOM Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Task Force as part of the Department of Defense Threat Reduction Advisory Committee.

Education 

Dr. Malvesti holds a Bachelor of Arts, Highest Distinction, in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Her Political Science degree was conferred with Highest Honors. She received both a Ph.D. in International Relations and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.