Leaders on Asia | Frances Adamson, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

From 2011 to 2015, Ms Adamson was Ambassador to the People's Republic of China. She served in the Australian Consulate-General in Hong Kong in the late 1980s during the early years of China's reform and opening. From 2001 to 2005, she was seconded as Representative to the Australian Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei.

Ms Adamson has twice served in the Australian High Commission in London, as Deputy High Commissioner from 2005 to 2008 and as Political Counsellor from 1993 to 1997.

She was Chief of Staff to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and then the Minister for Defence from 2009 to 2010.

Ms Adamson is a member of the Export Finance Australia Board, the Advisory Board of the Australian National University's National Security College, the Asia Society Australia Advisory Council and the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations. Ms Adamson is a member of the Champions of Change Coalition and Chief Executive Women. She was awarded a Sir James Wolfensohn Public Service Scholarship in 2015 and was made a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration (IPAA) in September 2019.

Ms Adamson has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Adelaide and was a recipient of a 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award. She joined the then Department of Foreign Affairs in 1985.

Shayne has more than 30 years’ experience in international banking including in Australia, New Zealand, USA, UK, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Prior to ANZ, Shayne held senior executive roles at EFG Hermes primarily as Chief Operating Officer covering Technology, Risk, Marketing, Operations and HR.

Shayne was previously with Citigroup for 20 years where he held various senior positions across geographies and business sectors including CEO Global Transaction Services Asia Pacific, Country Head Australia/New Zealand and Country Head Egypt.

Shayne is a Director of the Financial Markets Foundation for Children and a member of the Australian Banking Association, the Business Council of Australia and the Customs Advisory Board.

In August 2018, Shayne joined the Leadership Council on Cultural Diversity having been a strong champion for cultural diversity and leadership through his career.

Shayne holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Management Studies and Finance from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Stuart was previously at King & Wood Mallesons for 27 years as a capital markets/securitisation and regulatory partner, and a 10 year career in management culminating in his role as the inaugural Global Managing Partner for King & Wood Mallesons. He is an acknowledged market leader in securitisation, and led the peak industry body, the Australian Securitisation Forum, for a number of years.

Stuart is also an acknowledged leader in Australia/Asian relationships having been a member of the Business Council of Australia’s Global Engagement Task Force and a number of Australian coordinating bodies.

Stuart’s role is to lead the team at KPMG Law and build it into an integrated, quality team that assists KPMG to win business and support its clients.

Previously she was national affairs writer for The Australian, and earlier had worked for the AFR and The Sydney Morning Herald. She also regularly appears as a commentator on TV and radio and has worked in New York and Washington as a foreign correspondent.

Jennifer was born in Perth. She has a Bachelors degree from the University of WA and a Masters degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She had three children with her late husband Peter Ruehl, an American journalist and one of Australia's wittiest and most irreverent columnists, who died suddenly in 2011.