Michael Barluk recently joined Equal Access International as Senior Practice Area Director, providing expertise in program design and implementation. He previously served as Senior Director with Nickol Global Solutions (NGS) where he managed the firm’s Democracy, Rights and Governance Portfolio. Prior to joining NGS, he served as Director- Governance Programs with Counterpart International, managing innovative and leading-edge governance programing globally. Previously he served as Sector Director- Democracy and Governance with Tetra Tech/ARD, where he was responsible for a portfolio of USAID-funded DG projects valued at $350 million. He previously served as Director- Governance with AECOM, managing a portfolio of projects based in Iraq, Jordan and Egypt. Mr. Barluk was based in the Middle East for nearly three years, serving as a Public Institution Reform Expert (Iraq) and a Governance Expert (Palestinian Authority) with the European Commission Delegation. He served for one year as National Governance Director – Iraq Program, with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) based in Baghdad, Iraq.

For almost a decade Mr. Barluk worked as a senior political advisor to a series of Federal Cabinet Ministers in the Canadian Government. His roles included Legislative Aide, Press Secretary, Communications Director and Chief of Staff.

He holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts Degree in Mass Communications from the University of Ottawa, and pursued graduate studies in Comparative Politics and International Affairs at Queen’s University (Kingston).