Ripple has appointed former U.S. State Department Official Anja Manuel to its board of directors. Manuel has served as a special advisor to Ripple since 2015.

Manuel is a respected foreign policy and regulatory expert with extensive experience in international business, policy and government. She currently advises U.S. corporates on how to expand into emerging markets, particularly India and China, as co-founder and managing partner at RiceHadleyGates LLC, along with former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. In addition, she is a lecturer on U.S. foreign policy in Asia at Stanford University’s International Policy Studies Program, a position she has held since 2009.

Previously, Manuel served as an official at the U.S. State Department, where she held responsibility for South and Central Asian policy, congressional outreach and legal matters. She was part of the negotiating team for the U.S.‐India civilian nuclear accord, for which she helped to secure passage through the U.S. Congress, and was extensively involved in developing U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan. Prior to this, Manuel was also an attorney at WilmerHale as well as an investment banker at Salomon Brothers International in London.

Commenting on the appointment, Chris Larsen, executive chairman of Ripple’s board said: “Anja’s extensive experience in foreign policy and international business have already proven to be valuable assets to Ripple as our network business quickly expands across the globe. I’m thrilled she’ll play an even more integral role in our strategy as a director on our board.”

Manuel added: “My passion for Ripple’s vision for an Internet of Value, in which money will move like information moves today, and my belief that Ripple has the team to execute on it have only grown having had the privilege of working with the team over the past two years. I look forward to leveraging my international policy and business experience as a board member to support Ripple’s ambitious expansion in new markets.”

In addition to her recent board appointment at Ripple, Manuel serves on the board of directors for Flexport, a startup working to simplify the export-import process, and Internews, a non-profit that trains independent journalists in post-conflict and other developing countries. She is an advisory board member of the Center for a New American Security, and the non-profit Developments in Literacy. Manuel is a member of the Aspen India Strategy Group and the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of This Brave New World: India, China and the United States, a book about the rise of India and China as global powers and the United States’ opportunity to partner with them in both the public and private sectors.