Our People
Philipp Ivanov
Chief Programming Officer
Philipp Ivanov is Chief Programming Officer at Asia Society, leading global public programs and collaborations among Asia Society's centers across four continents, as well as the Asia 21 Next Generation Leaders Initiative. A China specialist and public policy leader with extensive experience in strategy and organizational renewal, education, China-Australia, and China-Russia relations, he is also a senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
In 2023, Philipp was a Fulbright Scholar and visiting fellow at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. From 2015 to 2023 he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Society Australia Centre. During his term as CEO, the Centre grew from 1 to over 15 staff, while consolidating its position as Australia’s leading business and policy think-tank on Asia. He is the founder of the Asia Society flagship initiatives - Disruptive Asia, China Executive Briefing, Asia Briefing LIVE, and Generation Asia.
Previously, Philipp worked on China policy at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and as a Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney. He was awarded the Australian Government’s Endeavour Executive Fellowship to conduct research on China’s policies for leadership development at the National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing. His commentary and analysis have been featured by Foreign Policy, The Australian, the Australian Broadcasting Corp., Bloomberg News, CNBC, The Australian Financial Review, Melbourne Asia Review and ChinaFile.
Philipp has a bachelor’s degree in Chinese history from the Far Eastern Federal University and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from RMIT University. A fluent Chinese and Russian speaker, he grew up in Vladivostok, and lived and worked in China for over six years, before making Australia his home.
SANJEEV M. SHERCHAN is Executive Director of Asia Society’s Global Initiatives Group in New York, which seeks to integrate the Society’s multidisciplinary work across its various departments, center initiatives, and projects, to present globally impactful programs. He began his career at the Asia Society in 2000 with a specific concentration on South Asia programming. Before returning to the U.S. for graduate studies in 1998, Sanjeev worked for PLAN International-Makwanpur in Nepal. He was a member of the National Democratic Institute’s short-term Election Observation Mission during Bangladesh’s historic Ninth Parliamentary Elections in December 2008 and was deployed in the Jessore district. He has been an occasional commentator on news and television programs on Nepal. He is a graduate of Baylor University in Texas, where he received an M.A. in international relations in 2000.
HEE-CHUNG KIM is Associate Director of the Global Initiatives Group at Asia Society in New York. In this capacity, she is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the department and planning and implementing Global Initiative projects. Hee-Chung is an Asia Society veteran who has organized various Asia Society conferences and programs, including the Asia 21 Next Generation Leaders Summit, Williamsburg Conference, Diversity Leadership Forum, Women Leaders of New Asia, Bernard Schwartz Fellows program, Bernard Schwartz Book Award, Asia Society Associate Fellows, and other public programs, since she joined the Asia Society in 1999. She received her BA in History from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, and a Master’s in Visual Arts Administration from New York University. Hee-Chung was born and raised in Korea, and now lives in the U.S. with her husband and daughter.