Our Leadership Team
Michael J. Morell
Senior Partner & Co-Founder
Michael Morell is one of our nation’s leading national security professionals, with extensive experience in intelligence and foreign policy. He has been at the center of our nation’s fight against terrorism and its efforts to respond to trends that are altering the international landscape—including the rise of China, the return of a revanchist Russia, and instability in the Middle East. During his 33-year career at CIA, Michael led the agency twice as Acting Director. He also served as Deputy Director, overseeing the Agency’s day-to-day operations and analysis. Michael’s additional senior assignments at CIA included serving for two years as the Director of Intelligence, the Agency’s top analyst, and for two years as Executive Director, the CIA’s top administrator.
Y. Joseph (Joe) Zacks
Managing Partner & Co-Founder
Y. Joseph (Joe) Zacks served for over 42 years in the national security arena. His final assignment was the Deputy Assistant Director of the CIA for Counterterrorism. Commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1983, Joe spent 21 years on active duty as a Field Artillery officer. While in the Army, Joe also served on the faculty of the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy, served on the Joint Staff, and as an Army Attache in New Delhi, India. After his retirement from the Army in 2004, Joe began his 21-year career in the CIA in the Directorate of Operations. He served as a Chief of Base in South Asia and three stints as a Chief of Station, including at a flagship station in South Asia. At headquarters, Joe served in senior leadership positions; these included the Chief of Operations of the Counterterrorism Mission Center, where he was responsible for CIA’s worldwide counterterrorism operations, and as the Agency’s Chief Learning Officer. Joe is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Michele Kernitsky
Partner
Michele Kernitsky is a national security executive with extensive experience addressing complex foreign policy and intelligence challenges. Until February 2026, she was a senior executive at the Central Intelligence Agency. She also served at the White House and State Department. During her 26 years in public service, Michele ran analytic programs on Eurasia and the Middle East that supported US decisionmakers as they confronted international crises, ranging from wars to nuclear proliferation to social unrest. She also led the Agency’s analysis on emerging technical and insider threats. She received the Presidential Rank Award, the country’s highest honor for a civilian executive, in 2024.
Before entering government, Michele worked at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, running the US-Russia National Security Project. She earned an M.A. in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and a B.A. in Government with minors in Russian Studies and Latin American Studies from Connecticut College.
