About Us

President, International Center for Great Power Studies and Diplomacy

Dean, Diplomatic ROTC Academy

Daria Novak is President of the International Center for Great Power Studies and Diplomacy and Dean of the Diplomatic ROTC Academy. She is a seasoned executive leader and former political appointee at the US Department of State, with expertise in crisis/risk management, humanitarian and disaster assistance, trade issues, intelligence, and foreign affairs. She has career-long specializations in China/East Asia, unconventional warfare, and predictive behavior analysis. Novak also has composite experience in business leadership with ERUdyne, a training and consulting company she founded in 2000.  She served as a Teaching Fellow in international relations at Catholic University of America, former graduate faculty in the National Security program at the University of New Haven, taught at the University of Connecticut, and was the 2016 Republican candidate for US Congress in CT-02.

Novak has extensive writing experience, including as contributing editor of the Encyclopedia on World Terrorism and co-host of two weekly radio and TV political talk shows. She is a weekly columnist covering China, Russia, and general U.S. foreign policy for the American Analysis of News and Media in New York. Novak served as a political appointee at the U.S. Department of State covering East Asian and Pacific affairs, engaging with international leaders, the White House, US Congress and other government agencies and working groups. Novak has supervised over a dozen crisis management task force teams and was a direct report to several U.S. Secretaries of State while covering crises around the globe. 

She possesses a deep knowledge base in post-normalization relations with China and South/Central Asia, with emphasis on cultural/technology/military exchanges and dual-use technology. She later served as head of a Knowledge Management practice at META Group, working on security and contingency planning for U.S. nuclear power facilities on the East Coast. Novak is an exceptional interpersonal communicator with a track record of excellence in the private and public sectors, having served as a key public and government relations liaison accountable for drafting policy papers, intelligence analysis, and Congressional testimony as well as briefing media and staff and speaking nationally on foreign policy. 

Novak has experience as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and as a member of the White House International Advance team. She participated in high-level arms, trade, and political talks between the U.S. Vice President and several Asian heads of state and earned numerous honor awards, including from U.S. Secretary of State Baker "... for providing the core leadership and knowledge needed for the successful management of the China crisis while safeguarding U.S. long-term interests in the region." 

Novak received an MA from the University of Southern California and Catholic University of America. She currently is completing a PhD in political science at Catholic University of America. She graduated from the USAF’s Special Operations School in unconventional warfare, US Foreign Service Institute Area Studies and Mandarin language program, and studied Mandarin at Taiwan National Normal University in Taipei.

Vice President, International Center for Great Power Studies and Diplomacy

Frank V. Vernuccio, Jr., J.D. joined the Center a decade ago and serves as its Vice President and is a member of the Board of Directors. He also is the president of the American Analysis of News & Media, Inc., and editor-in-chief of its major publication, the New York Analysis of Policy and Government.

Vernuccio is a FOX radio news contributor and frequent guest on numerous radio programs across the nation each week. He is the co-host of the Vernuccio-Novak Report, a radio program on air for over 11 years in many major US media markets, and co-host of the American Political Zone television program, carried on the AUN Television Network,  Comcast, Roku, and on You Tube for almost 8 years.

He is the author and voice of the syndicated radio feature, “Minute Report for America®. A regular columnist, Vernuccio is published weekly in a number of newspapers, and frequently in major publications. He has been published in the Washington Times, The Hill, USATODAY magazine, the Federal Times, American Thinker, Townhall Finance, Affluent Investor, American Spectator, among other publications. His work has been quoted by major authors and in The Congressional Record. 

Vernuccio has reported from sites as remote as a US Air Force base above the Arctic Circle, and as familiar as New York City and Washington, D.C. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, Vernuccio was appointed by New York’s then-governor George Pataki to run the hard-hit New York-Bronx Workers’ Compensation Board. Under his leadership, the Board completed more claims for injured workers than at any other time in its history. He also served on the Board’s Crisis Management Team.

Prior to his gubernatorial appointment, Vernuccio served as Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Affairs and Policy in the Bronx Borough President’s Office, during the period when the borough transformed from “The Bronx is Burning” to “The Bronx is a hot place to invest!”

In addition to his media activities, Vernuccio advises a small business organization in New York City. For over a decade, Vernuccio served as an editor of legislative affairs for the Prentice-Hall Publishing Corporation. He has been recognized for his work on behalf of veterans within his community. 

He received his law degree from the Hofstra University School of law, and his B.A. cum laude from Fordham University.