Experts

From 2018 to 2019, Mr Maude was Deputy Secretary, Indo-Pacific Group, in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia’s senior official to the East Asia Summit.

In 2017, Mr Maude was head of the whole-of-government taskforce which supported the preparation of the Australian Government’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper.

Mr Maude was Director-General of the Office of National Assessments from May 2013 until November 2016.  Before taking up this position, Mr Maude was the senior adviser on foreign policy and national security issues to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

He has served overseas in Malaysia, where he was Deputy High Commissioner, Singapore and as the Liaison Officer for the Office of National Assessments in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC.

Mr Maude is a member of the Futures Council of the National Security College at the Australian National University and Director of the ANU Crawford Leadership Forum.

He led international policy and engagement for two Prime Ministers as head of International Division, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and served as an Adviser to Foreign Minister Downer. He has been Australia’s High Commissioner to India, served at the Australian Embassy in Washington working on the Australia-U.S. Alliance and been Australia’s Senior Official for APEC. He has led Australia’s consular support for Australians overseas, media and parliamentary engagement for the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio, and overseen comprehensive incoming government briefing for two Foreign Ministers and Australia’s Trade Minister. 

Mr. Suckling was most recently Australia’s Ambassador for the Environment, leading on Paris Agreement negotiations, strategy for Australia’s $1 billion climate finance commitment and bilateral cooperation on climate change with key countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. This included chairing the influential Umbrella Group of developed countries - including the United States, Russia, Japan, and Canada - in UNFCCC negotiations for four years. 

He is currently a Senior Partner at Pollination, a specialist climate advisory, and investment firm.

A University of Sydney computer science graduate, Ms Van has been recognised globally as a leader and entrepreneur. Among her many accolades are: 

• First Winner of the Mekong Women's Entrepreneurship Challenge, 2013
• Top 100 Outstanding Start-up Entrepreneurs in Viet Nam, 2016
• ASEAN Female Entrepreneur of the Year, 2017
• Forbes magazine 15 Global Leaders to Watch, 2017
• Most Prominent Australian Female Alumni, Australian Embassy in Viet Nam, 2019
• Fortune-U.S. State Department Mentee, Global Women Mentoring Program, 2020

She currently holds the positions of Vice President of the Alliance of Digital Technology Companies in Viet Nam, Vice President of Hanoi Women Entrepreneurs Association, and Steering Committee member of the Aus4Innovation program. 

Ms Van has spoken on digital transformation and innovation at major events such as TEDx, APEC and ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, and is a regular judge at start-up challenges. 

Earlier, since 2015, Manoj Kohli was the Executive Chairman of the SB Energy – SoftBank Group, which plans to develop 20GW renewable energy projects in India and is already developing over 5GW of solar and wind projects.

Manoj was also the Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises Limited and responsible for the growth and operations of the Bharti group of companies in retail, insurance, agri-products, real estate, mobile internet sector. Manoj's key contribution has been building Airtel as no 3 telco in the world with over 360m customers. He led Bharti Airtel’s India operations during which the customer base grew from 2 million to 150 million before moving to International responsibility in 2010. Manoj was the Chairman of the Industry Association, COAI which deals with Government resolving all regulatory policy matters. He was the Managing Director and CEO (International), Bharti Airtel, as he headed the International Business Group which leads the international strategy & vision for 20 countries and was also responsible for leading the Africa operations which Bharti Airtel acquired in June 2010.

Manoj started his career in 1979 with the DCM Shriram Group, where he initially led the HR function, followed by leadership positions in the Foods, Chemicals and Fertilizer businesses and assignments in Engineering projects, including Shriram Honda. He left as Vice President, responsible for the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration business unit (Tecumseh & Daikin) after a stint of 15 years. He subsequently worked for 15 years at AlliedSignal / Honeywell as its Executive Director in charge of its new Industrial Park and operations in India. Manoj then joined Escotel, which he led for over 5 years as Executive Director and CEO, before coming on board at Bharti Airtel.

Overall his 40 years of work experience is divided between the manufacturing and telecom sectors. Manoj has worked closely with MNCs as well as worked at Michigan, Austria, Tokyo, Shanghai, Manila, Singapore, HK and supervised 20 countries in Africa in addition to all four regions in India.

He has held leadership, research and academic positions with some of the world's leading institutions and universities, including the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Sydney, and the Australian National University. 

He has published eight books and over 150 other publications, including most recently China Matters: Getting it Right for Australia (Black Inc/LaTrobe University Press, 2017)(with Linda Jakobson).  His current research projects include a focus on the modernisation of Chinese strategic forces (nuclear, cyber, space) and how U.S. allies are balancing relations between a rising China and an uncertain America.

Guy currently holds the position of Senior Director for National Security and Defence at the Department of the Chief Minister and Cabinet, Northern Territory Government.

Previous roles include Senior Manager for ASEAN and India in the Trade and Investment Branch of the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, various senior roles in the International Policy Division at the Department of Defence, and the International Policy, Intelligence and Operations Senior Adviser to Minister for Defence.

He has worked with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, US Centre for Strategic and International Studies, US Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Japanese and Indonesian think-tanks and is the only Australian non-Executive Director on the Board of the International Security Industry Council of Japan.

Previously, he was a policy officer and manager of the Australia-China Council at the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Philipp was one of the principal authors of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper - China Country Strategy. Philipp was Acting Director and Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Asia and the Pacific at the University of Sydney, and advised the University of Sydney on their China strategy.

Philipp spent over 6 years in China working in education and development. He is the recipient of the ‘Rose Award’ by the Shenyang Municipal Government for his contribution to Shenyang City. In 2009 he was also awarded the Australian Government’s Endeavour Executive Fellowship to research China's policies on leadership development at the China National Academy of Education Administration in Beijing.

Philipp has a Bachelor (Honours) degree in Chinese language and history from the Far Eastern National University in Russia. He also studied in Jilin and Liaoning Normal universities in China. He holds a Master of Educational Leadership and Management from RMIT University in Australia. He is a fluent Chinese and Russian speaker.