Atman Trivedi is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and has over 20 years of foreign policy and trade experience with expertise in India and the broader Asia region. He currently works as senior vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors, and co-leads the firm’s South Asia practice.

Atman served as senior director for policy in global markets at the US Commerce Department under President Obama. He played an important role on India matters, including leadership in the US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue and re-imagined US-India CEO Forum, and managed the development of comprehensive strategic plans in key markets with a focus on Asia. Earlier in the Administration, he was chief of staff in the US State Department’s nonproliferation bureau. Atman was part of diplomatic teams that eliminated Syria’s declared chemical weapons, and addressed nonproliferation challenges in South Asia.

He worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) as Chairman John Kerry’s counsel, leading his policy activities on India and Southeast Asia. Atman also regularly advised him on issues with China, Japan, and on the Korean Peninsula. Earlier, he served as Senator Kerry’s chief policy and legal adviser on defense and intelligence issues, leading his efforts to secure passage of the historic US-India civil nuclear deal (as the relevant SFRC subcommittee chair).

Prior to government, Atman was an international trade lawyer at WilmerHale LLP. He counseled global businesses, and conducted investigations on trade policy and litigation, sanctions, export controls, anti-bribery/FCPA, and CFIUS matters. Early in his career, Atman worked as a junior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

He holds a BA in International Relations (minor in Economics) and MA in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, and studied South Asian security 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 in international law. His commentary has featured in leading US, Indian, and global newspapers and magazines.

Atman completed term membership at the Council on Foreign Relations and is an adjunct fellow at the Pacific Forum; a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations; and an AsiaSociety Asia 21 fellow. He consulted with the United States Institute of Peace in 2019.