Patrick Quirk is Chief Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer at Save the Children US.
Patrick Quirk, PhD
Chief Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer, Save the Children US
Patrick Quirk, PhD is Chief Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer at Save the Children US. In this role, he leads the organization’s efforts to shape public policy, mobilize stakeholders and strengthen Save the Children’s position as a voice for children. Quirk also oversees Save the Children Action Network (SCAN), the organization’s political advocacy arm, which mobilizes grassroots advocates to advance policy change for children at the federal and state levels.
Patrick joined Save the Children from UNICEF USA, where he served as Vice President for Global Policy and Public Affairs. In that role, Patrick advanced a government relations and public affairs strategy focused on Congress, the Executive Branch, and key external stakeholders to advance UNICEF USA’s advocacy priorities. Prior to joining UNICEF USA, Patrick served as Vice President for Strategy, Innovation, and Impact at the International Republican Institute (IRI), where he led the development and execution of the organization’s global strategic plan, guided external engagement with the Executive Branch and Congress, and oversaw teams responsible for innovation and impact assessment across programs in more than 100 countries. From 2019-2021, he also served as a Nonresident Fellow in the Foreign Policy Program of the Brookings Institution.
Prior to IRI, Patrick served on the U.S. Secretary of State’s Policy Planning staff in the Department of State and in State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, where he advised senior U.S. officials on foreign assistance, conflict prevention and stabilization strategies in regions around the world. Earlier in his career, he was a Research Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and spent a decade designing and implementing foreign assistance programs overseas in more than 30 countries.
Patrick’s analysis has appeared in Foreign Policy, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Real Clear Defense, and other leading outlets. He is the author of “Great Powers, Weak States, and Insurgency: Explaining Internal Threat Alliances” (2017).
In addition to his work at Save the Children, Patrick serves as a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Freedom and Prosperity Center, an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, and an advisory board member of the Vandenberg Coalition.
Patrick earned a B.A. from Bates College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University. He lives in the Washington, DC area with his wife and daughter.