Michael Punke

Michael W. Punke (born December 7, 1964) is an American writer, novelist, professor, policy analyst, policy consultant, attorney, and currently the Deputy United States Trade Representative and US Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. He is best known for writing The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge (2002), which was adapted into film as The Revenant (2015), directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, with a screenplay by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith, and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy. 2Early life and education Punke was born and raised in Torrington, Wyoming, the son of Marilyn and Butch Punke, a high school biology teacher. He has a younger brother, Tim, and a sister, Amy. They engaged in various outdoor activities in the wilderness like fishing, hunting, hiking, shooting, and mountain biking. When he was a teenager, he also spent at least three summers working at the Fort Laramie National Historic Site as a "living history interpreter." He was also a debate team champion in high school, which he graduated early from to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst, later transferring to George Washington University to graduate with a degree in International Affairs. He later attended and received his Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School, where he focused on trade law, and was elected to become Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell International Law Journal. 2Career Upon graduation from Cornell Law in the 90s, Punke worked as a government staffer for Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana), who is now the Ambassador to China. Specifically, from 1991–92, Punke served as International Trade Counsel to Baucus, who was also then Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee's International Trade Subcommittee. Punke also met his wife Traci while working for Baucu