Anjelina Belakovskaia is an Associate Teaching Professor in Global Finance at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University – ranked #1 in Innovation by U.S. News & World Report for 10 consecutive years. Anjelina’s expertise lies in the area of risk management and financial derivatives. Over the last 30 years, she has been involved in trading of Foreign Exchange, equities, weather and exotic derivatives, and cryptocurrencies.

Her teaching portfolio includes "Derivatives and Risk Management," “Navigating Global FinTech Innovations,” "Principles of Finance for Global Organizations," and numerous other classes – including her unique course, "Chess, Leadership and Business Strategy" that bridges critical thinking, strategy, and decision-making.

Since 2022, Anjelina has served as Faculty Advisor of the Crypto Club at Thunderbird and has become deeply engaged in the field of Artificial Intelligence. She currently chairs the AI and Emerging Technology Committee at Thunderbird and was instrumental in launching the ASU Downtown AI Community of Practice. This initiative fosters interdisciplinary collaboration through monthly AI/Tech Talks at Thunderbird, open to ASU faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as various conferences and campus-wide events.

At the university level, Anjelina contributes to strategic discussions on AI Literacy and the evolving Future of Work – exploring the skills that future leaders, executives, and professionals will need in a rapidly changing world shaped by AI and emerging technologies.

In Spring 2024, her proposal – Exploring AI-Enhanced Supplemental Instruction for Scalable Educational Support – was selected as a winner in the ASU AI Enterprise Innovation Challenge (1st cohort), earning her an OpenAI Enterprise license to develop scalable, AI-powered solutions in higher education.

As a former professional chess player and a member of the U.S. Olympic Women’s Chess Team (1991–2000), Anjelina is a 3-time U.S. Women’s Chess Champion (1995, 1996, 1999) and holds the title of Woman International Grandmaster (1993). In 2023, she won the Inaugural U.S. Chess Championship for Women 50+, and in 2023 and 2024, she led the U.S. Women’s 50+ Team to Silver and Bronze medals at the World Senior Team Chess Championships in Krakow and Prague, respectively.

Blending her passions for Chess, Risk Management, and Trading, Anjelina remains active in those fields – managing personal crypto and equity portfolios and having served three years as a Member-At-Large on the U.S. Chess Federation’s Executive Board (2015–2018).