Sh. K.N. Shrivastava, joined Indian Administrative Service in 1978 and was allotted Karnataka Cadre.    He held several important positions in Karnataka State in Power, Irrigation, Urban Transportation and Mining sectors.   His most notable achievement was implementation of an Irrigation and Power Project across Krishna River which has provided irrigation to about a million hectares of agriculture lands and is generating 1000 megawatt of power.  In the Central Government, he worked in the ministries of Civil Aviation, External Affairs and Culture.  He contributed immensely to the development of airport infrastructure all over the country.   He retired from the post of Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in 2014.  

Post retirement from Government Service, he worked as a member of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and as a Judge in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).  He joined as Director of India International Centre, New Delhi in January 2019 and is continuing as such. He has vivid knowledge about art and culture of the country and works extensively on Bhojpuri language, art and culture.