Liza Tobin

Liza Tobin is managing director at Garnaut Global, a geopolitical risk advisory firm, and a senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for New American Security. Before joining Garnaut Global, she was part of the founding team at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a nonprofit led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, where she served as senior director for economy from 2021 to 2025. Prior to SCSP, Ms. Tobin served as China director at the National Security Council during the Trump and Biden administrations, contributing to both presidents’ China strategies. Her government service also includes roles as a senior advisor at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Drawing on extensive experience in China, Ms. Tobin bridges policy, academic, and private sector perspectives. She holds an M.A. in international relations from Johns Hopkins SAIS with concentrations in China studies and international economics, completed graduate work at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, and earned her B.A. in China studies and biblical studies from Gordon College. Her television and podcast appearances include Bloomberg Technology, Fox Business, NBC, In the Room with Peter Bergen, Behind the Markets, and The President’s Inbox. Her writings appear in Foreign Policy, Texas National Security Review, War on the Rocks, Naval War College Review, Asia Unbound, and Lawfare.