Mark D. Clark is currently serving as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southeast Asia in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the U.S. State Department. Prior to that, he was Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia with responsibility for bilateral relations with six countries: Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, TimorLeste and Brunei. He is a member of the Senior Foreign Service. Clark joined the Foreign Service in 1992 and served much of his career working on Southeast Asia. He completed diplomatic assignments as Political Counselor in both Indonesia (2014-17) and Malaysia (2006-09), as well as two earlier tours in Indonesia. Clark also served overseas in Haiti, Nigeria and Kenya. As the Department’s South Sudan officer based in Nairobi (1999-2002), he helped to restart the South Sudan peace process. In Washington, he previously served as Director for Regional and Security Policy for the East Asia and Pacific Bureau and Deputy Director for Maritime Southeast Asia. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Clark worked with several humanitarian and development assistance NGOs in Indonesia and Morocco. He completed his undergraduate studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He holds master’s degrees in public policy analysis from Carnegie-Mellon University and in national security strategy from the National War College. Clark has received six individual State Department superior honor awards, the Linguist of the Year award, and other performance recognitions.