Alex Zerden

Adjunct Senior Fellow, Middle East Security Program

Founder, Capitol Peak Strategies

Press: [email protected]

Research Areas

Alex Zerden is the founder of Capitol Peak Strategies, a risk advisory firm based in Washington, D.C. Capitol Peak works with leading financial institutions, companies and organizations to navigate emerging technologies, financial regulation, and economic crisis. As a regulatory lawyer, economic policymaker, and financial diplomat, Alex brings a depth of public and private sector experience at the intersection of financial services, economics, and national security covering anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), economic sanctions, investment security, financial regulation, economic crisis response, anti-corruption, financial enforcement and oversight investigations, and public-private partnerships.

Over two decades, Alex’s work regularly involves the Middle East region. He has worked and lived throughout the Middle East and studied multiple regional languages. He began his career pursuing justice for American and international victims of terrorism, taking on sophisticated terrorism financing networks operating in the Middle East. In government, Alex’s portfolio included Middle East counter-terrorism financing, sanctions compliance, and efforts to counteract Iran and its proxy network. In the private sector, Alex advises on public-private financial inclusion and other partnerships in the Middle East. He frequently publishes and appears in regional and international media.

Previously, Alex worked across the U.S. government, including at the White House National Economic Council, House of Representatives, Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), and the Treasury Department’s Office of International Affairs, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). He deployed to Afghanistan as Financial Attaché, leading the Treasury Department office at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Alex is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University.