Knopf has also been a senior advisor for the Crisis Management Initiative, a conflict mediation organization founded by former Finnish President and Nobel Laureate Martti Ahtisaari, and a visiting policy fellow at the Center for Global Development. She was chief of staff for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and for the Executive Office for Administration and Finance of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She holds an master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.