Steven Fox, Drew McKnight, and Mahesh Veerina Join CNAS Board of Advisors

Washington, Sept 7, 2022—The Center for a New American Security is pleased to welcome Steven Fox, Drew McKnight, and Mahesh Veerina to its Board of Advisors.

“I am delighted to welcome Steven, Drew, and Mahesh to the CNAS Board of Advisors,” said Richard Fontaine, Chief Executive Officer of CNAS. “Their experience and expertise in business and government will add depth to our work, and we look forward to their insights."

Fox is the Executive Chairman and Founder of Veracity Worldwide, a political risk consulting firm. Founded in 2007, Veracity has worked extensively in the mining and energy sectors across a range of emerging markets, especially in Africa. Fox has become a recognized authority on corruption, reputation, and ESG risk issues. His work has been profiled in The New Yorker and in Harvard Business School case studies and he is regularly quoted in publications such as The Financial Times. Previously, Fox was a U.S. diplomat who served in Burundi, France, and Algeria, and in Washington. He holds degrees from Princeton, Cambridge, and INSEAD. He is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and he speaks French. He spends time in West Palm Beach, London, and New York.

McKnight is a Managing Partner of the Fortress Credit Funds Business. McKnight heads the liquid strategies and serves on the investment committee for the Credit Funds and is a member of the Management Committee of Fortress. McKnight is also the Co-CIO of the Drawbridge Special Opportunities Fund, the Fortress Lending Funds and Fortress Credit Opportunities Funds. Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, McKnight was the trader for Fir Tree Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. McKnight serves on the Board for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and on the Board of Advisors for SMU’s Cox School of Business Alternative Asset Management Center. In addition, McKnight is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. McKnight received a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Veerina is CEO of ParkourSC, Inc., a leader of supply chain operations solutions. He is a seasoned entrepreneur, technology executive, and investor. A passionate leader, he enjoys developing strategic vision, driving innovation, and building world-class teams. A veteran Founder/CEO, he has taken several companies from early-stage to successful IPOs and acquisitions, as well as serving in senior leadership roles at Nokia, Motorola, Google, and Nook/Barnes & Noble. Previously he led Ramp Networks to a successful IPO and acquisition by Nokia as well as Azingo from startup to acquisition by Motorola. He holds several technology patents with a background in cloud, security, data networking, predictive analytics, mobile, telecom, and hardware. Veerina holds a MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, and a MSc in Electronics and Physics from Andhra University.

For more information, contact Cameron Edinburgh at comms@cnas.org or call 202-457-9425.