Anna Tunkel is an executive director and head of strategic partnerships & global engagement at APCO Worldwide, one of world’s largest privately owned business advisory, public affairs and strategic communications firms. Anna specializes in developing and leading cross-sectoral partnerships and global engagement strategies focused on advancing business and societal impact.

She has nearly two decades of experience at the nexus of business strategy, ESG, public affairs and communications, advising innovative global organizations from leading Fortune 100 companies to sovereign wealth funds, family offices and disruptive start-ups. Some of her projects range from harnessing AI for disaster preparedness and city resilience to helping launch one of world’s largest new blockchain initiatives to raising global awareness around urban water loss and new technologies addressing it. In her previous positions, she was a director in APCO’s Shanghai and Beijing offices, leading complex market entry and expansion projections in China and advising China’s multinational companies on their globalization strategies. She started her career with APCO in Washington DC as chief of staff to APCO’s founder and CEO and worked on a variety of business development and special projects for the firm, spanning APCO’s offices across North America, Europe and Asia. Prior to joining APCO, she worked for the Division of External Relations at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva and Physicians for Human Rights.

She has a Master of Science with academic distinction from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and is a graduate of Singularity University executive program on exponential innovation. She was named one of the 99 most influential foreign policy leaders by the Diplomatic Courier, and is an alumna of the Bucerius Global Governance Leadership program. She is an advisor to Massachusetts Institute of Technology flagship Solve initiative focused on Resilient Ecosystems and Economic Prosperity, serves on B-20 Taskforce for Energy, Climate and Sustainability as part of Indonesia's 2022 G-20 Presidency, is member of World Economic Forum Future Agenda Council on Transparency and Anti-Corruption and a board member of Seeds of Peace, an international youth leadership development organization committed to transforming legacies of conflict. She is a frequent writer and speaker on innovative public-private partnerships, technology & innovation and inclusive globalization