Parker Novak is a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Indo-Pacific Security Initiative, housed in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He specializes in Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, and US foreign policy. He also serves as serves as the director for government and external affairs at the International Republican Institute (IRI), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting freedom and democracy worldwide.

Novak has lived in six countries and worked on 18. His analysis and writing have been featured by several media outlets, including ABC Australia, the Australian Financial Review, BBC World News, CNN, Deutsche Welle, The Guardian, Jakarta Post, New York Times, Nikkei Asia, Straits Times, Sydney Morning Herald, and more. He is also a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He previously served as the deputy government relations director for the US Global Leadership Coalition and in various roles at the IRI, including as their Indonesia and Timor-Leste director, living in Jakarta and Dili as their senior in-country representative. He started his career as an aide to then-U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and working on political and public affairs campaigns in the United States and Australia.

He holds a master’s degree in political management and global politics from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in political science from The Ohio State University. He resides in Washington, DC.