David Szakonyi is an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, co-director of PONARS Eurasia, and co-founder of the Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC). His academic research focuses on corruption, kleptocracy, and authoritarian regimes around the world. He is also the author of several books, including Politics for Profit: Business, Elections, and Policymaking in Russia (Cambridge University Press, 2020), Workplace Politics: How Politicians and Employers Subvert Elections (Oxford University Press, 2025), and The Logic of Autocracy: How Dictatorships are Getting Smarter (forthcoming). Through ACDC, he has led numerous investigations into private equity, oligarchs, money laundering, and environmental corruption, among other topics, published in outlets such as Bloomberg, Le Monde, and the Washington Post. He received his PhD in political science from Columbia University and his BA from the University of Virginia.