Tiffany Polyak is an Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) Associate specializing in Threat Finance for the Global Thought Leadership team at ACAMS. She analyzes potential threats related to money laundering and terrorist financing while also assisting in building public-private partnerships. Tiffany earned her Master of Arts (M.A.) in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) in May of 2021. Before obtaining her M.A., Tiffany received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Biology with a focus in molecular genetics and psychology from Indiana University Bloomington. Prior to ACAMS, she researched at various organizations centering around biological weapons proliferation, the crime-terror nexus, terrorism financing, and has also worked briefly in AML compliance. Tiffany can speak Spanish and is currently learning Russian. She holds certificates in anti-money laundering (CAMS), sanctions (CGSS), cryptocurrency blockchain investigations (CTCE), and open-source intelligence (C|OSINT). Tiffany’s research interest centers around the illicit financial flows regarding virtual currencies and how emerging technologies can potentially be misused by criminal and terrorist entities.