Anessa Karney is a Los Angeles native and was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Pennsylvania Law School. She was a litigator at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe in New York and also has a background in politics. Anessa worked as campaign manager and chief of staff to New York City Council Member Eva Moskowitz and as field director and Capitol Hill aide to Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky.

More recently Anessa has devoted herself to philanthropic and civic causes. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Mirman School, is co-chair of the trustees committee, and has been co-chair of their Capital Campaign and chair of their Advancement Committee. She and her husband Stuart Goldstein are also very involved with the Annual Giving Campaign at Harvard Westlake School. She is a former Board member of the Jewish Family and Children Services of the Bay Area and a former Co-Chair of their annual galas as well as a former Board member of the Holocaust Center of Northern California.

Anessa currently sits on the Undergraduate Council for Financial Aid at the University of Pennsylvania and is the incoming Chair of the Grant Outreach Committee for the Everychild Foundation. Anessa is mother to three children (Alexandra, age 17, Justin, age 14, Kyra, age 12). In her free time Anessa enjoys traveling, sports and reading.