Mrs. Burk served as the special Representative of the President, Nuclear Nonproliferation with the rank of Ambassador, from 2009-2012, leading the U.S. preparations for and participation in the successful 2010 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference. Over her more than 35 years of public service focused on United States’ nonproliferation, arms control and counterterrorism objectives, she has held a number of senior positions in both the State Department and the former U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACCDA). Burk served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Nonproliferation, and as Acting Assistant Secretary of in the Nonproliferation Bureau for 14 months. She was the first Deputy Coordinator for Homeland Security in the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. In ACDA, she headed the office that led the U.S. preparations for the successful 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference.

Since her retirement in November 2012, she has been retained by the Department of State and the Department of Energy as a consultant on nuclear nonproliferation and NPT issues. She has continued to write and speak on these subjects. She has served on the Advisory Board for the International Network of Emerging Nuclear Specialists (INENS).

Mrs. Burk is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity College, Washington, DC (B.A. 1976) and of Georgetown University (M.A. 1982). She also was a member of the 44th State Department Senior Seminar (2001-2). She serves on the board of the Senior Seminar Alumni Association. Mrs. Burk was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. She is married to David M. Burk and has two grown children.