Michael A. Clauser

Mike Clauser has 20 years of Washington, DC experience, including a decade-long winning track record of standing-up and running US and international government affairs operations for global technology brands.

Prior to founding Ark, Mike was the inaugural Head of US & Canada Federal Affairs for Okta, a leading digital identity SaaS solution. Mike led Okta’s relationships with federal government stakeholders across the White House, Congress, and executive agencies on digital identity, cybersecurity, AI, data privacy, acquisition, and public sector. Mike was also the inaugural Head of Global Government Affairs at Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI), the major American digital signal processing semiconductor company, where he identified and executed on ADI’s government affairs agenda across Federal, state & local, and international governments at a major moment of inflection for US semiconductor companies globally. Mike began his technology policy career as the senior American in the global government affairs function at Fujitsu Limited (NIKKEI:FJTSY), the Japanese IT services giant.

Mike has held board-level and other leadership roles at industry groups such as the IT-Sector Coordinating Council, Alliance for Digital Innovation, BSA | The Software Alliance, Enterprise Cloud Coalition, Information Technology Industry Council, and the U.S. Information Technology Office.

Earlier in his career, Mike served as a national security aide to a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence staffing the Congressman on the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Intelligence Authorization Act, and annual fiscal year appropriations. He co-managed the bipartisan Strategic Communications and Public Diplomacy Caucus, which resulted in the passage of the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act, a bill endorsed publicly by both the Heritage Foundation and the ACLU. He began his US government career as a two-time Presidential Appointee in the Pentagon serving in both the Office of the Secretary of Defense & the Office of the Secretary of the Navy.

Mike has and continues to be active in several Presidential transition planning efforts.

A veteran of Operation Inherent Resolve, Mike spent a decade as an Intelligence Officer in the U.S. Navy's Information Warfare Corps where he led sailors and civilians at an US Africa Command J2 counterterrorism unit, a high optempo targeting and strike warfare unit, and underway as a deployed Targeteer with Carrier Air Wing SEVEN aboard the USS HARRY S. TRUMAN.

Mike studied philosophy, classics, and religious studies at the Pennsylvania State University and holds masters degrees from the US Naval War College, Poznan University of Economics in Poland, and the University of Exeter in England, in addition to several international data protection certifications.

Mike serves as an Adjunct Senior Policy Advisor to the Institute for Security & Technology, a Bay Area-based cybersecurity think tank. Previously, he was a Stephen M. Kellen term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Shawn Brimley Next Generation National Security Leaders Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and alumni of emerging leaders programs at Atlantik-Brüke, German Marshall Fund, Heritage Foundation, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Mike earned the Eagle Scout rank in his youth and continues to volunteer locally.