Judd Devermont is an operating partner at Kupanda Capital and senior adviser (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He previously served as special assistant to President Biden and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council from 2021 to 2024. Mr. Devermont authored the US Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa; helped stage the US-Africa Leaders Summit in 2022; launched major new initiatives; and directed billions of dollars toward infrastructure, digital connectivity, and clean energy projects. Mr. Devermont also was the director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2018 to 2021. Earlier in his career, he was the National Intelligence Officer for Africa from 2015 to 2018 and served as the Central Intelligence Agency’s senior political analyst, spending over a decade and a half analyzing key developments across the continent. Additionally, Mr. Devermont worked at the National Security Council from 2011 to 2013, contributing to President Obama’s Strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa and coordinating the US approach to Somalia, Nigeria, and the Sahel, as well as its partnership with the African Union. Mr. Devermont received an MA in African Studies from Yale University and a BA in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. He has lived in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa, and has traveled extensively across the continent.