Feodora Kurtz is a Senior Associate at Renaissance Strategic Advisors, where she provides objective and trusted guidance to scaled and start-up clients in the aerospace & defense industry across corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, and competitive analysis. Feodora closely tracks the Congressional Appropriations process and leads the annual development of Renaissance’s defense investment model, which provides a highly detailed, bottoms-up build of 10-year budget projections used across 150+ firm projects per year. She specializes in the missiles and munitions market and has a particular interest in bolstering cooperation within the global defense industrial base and often leads engagements with international firms seeking to enter or build their presence in the US.

Prior to joining Renaissance, Feodora was an Associate at The Cohen Group, where she advised clients on engagement and opportunity capture strategies within the defense, energy, and medical technology sectors. She also provided guidance to clients on pathways to access DPA Title III funding, navigation of CFIUS regulations, and the impact of US sanctions on international markets. Feodora began her career as a derivatives trader in Chicago at WH Trading, where she executed and managed positions in the global agricultural, energy, equity, FX, interest rate, and precious metals futures markets. Previously, she worked in Hong Kong at UBS Investment Bank as a Cash Equity Sales and Trading Summer Analyst.

Feodora graduated with honors from the University of Chicago with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Russian and East European Studies. She also studied Russian language, history, and culture at the Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, through a U.S. State Department National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) scholarship.