Anya Schiffrin is the director of the Technology, Media, and Communications at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She was formerly a global board member for George Soros’s Open Society Foundations. ¹

Early Life

Anya Schiffrin was born in 1962; her father was a book publisher. She graduated from Reed College in Oregon and received a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. ²

From 1997 to 1999, she was a bureau chief in Hanoi, Vietnam for Dow Jones. She then joined the staff of Columbia University, training journalists in the School of International and Public Affairs. ²

In 2004, she married Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz. ²

Activities

2011 World Economic Forum (WEF) Reporting

In 2011, Schiffrin attended the World Economic Forum‘s (WEFs) annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland with her husband. She reported on the event for the Guardian newspaper and Reuters. ³

According to the Guardian article she wrote on the gathering, Schiffrin wrote on how the annual Davos gatherings had only 15-17% during prior years. She further commented on “Davos wives” present at the gathering whom she claimed were given “white name-only badges with no affiliation…[were] last priority to get into sessions and sometimes barred from the popular ones, and…are never given a chance to participate.” ³ She further advocated for the Davos gathering to “draw on the pool of actually accomplished “Davos wives”” in order to “give women more visibility.” ³

2020 President Trump visit to WEF

In 2020, then-President Donald Trump attended the annual WEF meeting in Davos, where also gave a speech promoting his Administration‘s economic agenda. Schiffrin’s husband Joseph Stiglitz wrote up a memo criticizing the Administration’s policies while alleging that “44% of Americans are employed in low-wage jobs that pay less than $18,000 a year…[t]he median wage of a full-time male worker is still 3% less than it was forty years ago…little progress has been made in reducing racial disparities” in wages…[a]nd by 2026, when Trump’s 2017 tax cut takes effect, taxes will increase for “almost 70% of middle-income families.” ⁴ During President Trump’s speech, Schiffrin passed out printouts of her husband’s memo to attendees and other individuals present at the Davos gathering. ⁵

1. “Anya M. Schiffrin.” Columbia Journal of International Affairs, Accessed April 28, 2025. https://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/directory/anya-m-schiffrin
2. “Anya Schiffrin, Joseph Stiglitz.” New York Times. Oct. 31, 2004. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/fashion/anya-schiffrin-joseph-stiglitz.html.
3. Schiffrin, Anya. “Davos And The Gender Quota.” The Guardian. Jan. 25, 2011. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/25/davos-economics.
4. Connelly, Irene. “Economist Joseph Stiglitz Goes Analog To Rebut Trump At Davos In Real Time.” The Forward. Jan. 20, 2020. https://forward.com/schmooze/438636/joseph-stiglitz-davos/.
5. Connelly, Irene. “Economist Joseph Stiglitz Goes Analog To Rebut Trump At Davos In Real Time.” The Forward. Jan. 20, 2020. https://forward.com/schmooze/438636/joseph-stiglitz-davos/.