Atman Trivedi has over 20 years of high-level policy, legal, and communications experience across foreign affairs, trade, and defense with a deep understanding and set of relationships in the Asia region. His areas of expertise include India, China, Southeast Asia, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, global trade, CFIUS, economic sanctions/export control policy, WMD non-proliferation, and U.S. foreign policy.
He served as Senior Director for Policy in Global Markets at the U.S. Commerce Department. Atman played a leading role on India matters, including the creation of the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue and re-imagined U.S.-India CEO Forum, and managed the development of comprehensive strategic plans in key markets with a focus on Asia and Latin America. Earlier in President Obama’s Administration, he was Chief of Staff in the U.S. State Department’s International Security and Nonproliferation bureau. Atman was part of the diplomatic team that eliminated over 1300 tons of chemical weapons declared by Syria, and addressed nonproliferation challenges posed by North Korea and Iran.
He worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as Chairman John Kerry’s Counsel on India and Southeast Asia, and also assisted him on issues with China, Japan, and on the Korean Peninsula. Earlier, Atman served as Senator Kerry’s chief policy and legal adviser on defense, intelligence, nonproliferation, arms control, homeland security, and national security law.
Prior to government, Atman was an international trade lawyer at WilmerHale LLP. He counseled global businesses on trade policy and litigation, economic sanctions, export controls, anti-bribery/FCPA, and CFIUS matters. Early in his career, he worked as a National Security Analyst at SAIC and a Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Atman holds a B.A. in International Relations (minor in Economics) and M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, and studied abroad at Oxford University. He received his law degree from Columbia Law School, where he was a Senior Editor of the Columbia Law Review and shared the class prize for outstanding student in the study of international law. His commentary has been published in leading U.S. and Asian newspapers and magazines, including The New Republic, Bloomberg View, Foreign Policy, Project Syndicate, The Hill, YaleGlobal Online, The Diplomat, and The Times of India, among others.
