Mark McDowell is country representative for The Asia Foundation, Myanmar. A career diplomat, McDowell has spent the last decade working on Myanmar, first as Canada’s Ambassador in Yangon from 2013 to 2016 and later as country director of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA). He joined The Asia Foundation in 2020.
In his two decades with the Canadian Foreign Service, he also served as counselor for Public Diplomacy, Embassy of Canada in Beijing; counselor for Political and Economic Affairs, Embassy of Canada in Bangkok; deputy director for Aboriginal and Circumpolar Affairs, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, Global Issues Bureau; director for Political and Public Affairs, Canada Trade Office in Taipei, and as delegate to the UN General Assembly for the Canadian Mission to the UN. He has been a visiting scholar at the Kennedy School’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation, and at Thailand’s Institute for Security and International Studies.
Education: In addition to doctoral studies in Political Science with a focus on environmental policy in Indonesia, McDowell holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, as well as a master’s degree in East Asian Studies and a bachelor’s degree in History and Philosophy, both from the University of Toronto.
