David Y. Lee is the Global Head of Sanctions, Interdictions, and Screening and Chair of the Digital Assets Compliance Oversight Council at Western Union where he is responsible for the design, implementation, and oversight of the Global Sanctions Compliance Program, Global Interdiction Program, and the Global Digital Assets Compliance Program. Until December 2025, David was the Global Head of Sanctions and Screening at Payoneer to transform its screening architecture. From 2022 to 2024, David was at Circle Internet Financial as Global Head of Sanctions to design and implement a hybrid fiat-crypto sanctions program and run its Risk, Regulatory & Compliance Committee. Prior to Circle, David served nearly two decades at the U.S. State Department, the White House, and the U.S. Commerce Department as a national security and Asia expert. From 2018 to 2021, David was the Deputy Political Counsellor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations managing all UN sanctions, counterterrorism, and non-proliferation issues in the UN Security Council. Before that, David was lead U.S. negotiator for North Korea sanctions (2016 to 2018) and ISIS/AQ/Taliban sanctions and global counterterrorism efforts (2014 to 2016). Before the UN, David spent six years at the White House where he served in the National Security Council as Director for Non-proliferation Policy and the Office of Management and Budget as a senior political-military analyst after starting his career at the Commerce Department to review U.S. export controls and trade promotion to China and Brazil. David obtained his B.S. in Business Administration with a 2nd major in History & Policy and an M.S. in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University.