Breakfast available from 8:30 a.m.
Discussion begins at 9:00 a.m.

Please join us for a timely discussion on U.S.-Australia relations between Ambassadors Kevin Rudd and Caroline Kennedy. At the forefront of the U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific are U.S. allies and partners — especially Australia, with its rich history and connections to Southeast Asia and the Pacific. How do these two democracies build on shared values and celebrate diverse cultures? What lessons in history are relevant to understanding inclusive societies and sustainability today? How can the U.S., Australia, and other partners best support a prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific?

Welcoming remarks by Asia Society Global Trustee Lulu Wang, introductory remarks by Anthony Pratt, Executive Chairman of Visy Industries; and moderated by Josephine Linden, Asia Society Global Trustee, in celebration of Asia Society’s Season of Australia and the opening of the Madayin exhibit.

Opening and Welcoming Remarks

Lulu C. Wang is the CEO and Chair of Tupelo Capital Management, which she founded in 1998. Prior to that, Ms. Wang was a director and executive vice president of Jennison Associates Capital Corporation for 10 years. While at Jennison, she managed major funds for endowments, pensions and mutual funds. Before joining Jennison Associates in 1988, she served as senior vice president and managing director at Equitable Capital Management, responsible for portfolio management, research, and trading of public equities. She serves on the boards of Rockefeller University, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Asia Society, and Columbia Business School. She is also a retired director of MetLife Insurance and a trustee emerita of Wellesley College. She has been honored for her achievements by New York Public Radio, China Institute, Wellesley College, Columbia Alumni Association, Columbia Business School, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rockefeller University, Asia Society, Girls Inc., The Economic Round Table, and Ernst and Young. She earned a BA from Wellesley College, an MBA from Columbia Business School, and an honorary doctorate from Rockefeller University. In her free time, she gardens and with her husband, collects and rallies vintage cars. They also collect American paintings, furniture, and folk art. 

Introductory Remarks

Anthony Pratt is Executive Chairman of Visy and Pratt Industries USA, which together form the world's largest privately-owned recycled paper and packaging company. Combined they employ more than 18,000 people worldwide - including 11,000 in the United States, where Pratt Industries has become the largest Australian employer of Americans operating more than 70 factories across the country. Pratt has also grown from America's 45th biggest corrugated producer to the 5th and in 2020 Anthony was named the Paper & Packaging Industry’s CEO of the Year by a prestigious industry association. He is also a leading global food security advocate and each year sponsors the influential Global Food Forums in the USA and Australia with partners the Wall Street Journal and The Australian respectively. Anthony is also a leading philanthropist. Over the years the family's Pratt Foundation has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charities in more than 20 countries. He has pledged to give away a further $1 billion in his lifetime. Anthony divides his time between Melbourne and New York City.

Speakers

The Hon. Kevin Rudd served as Australia’s 26th Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010, then as Minister for Foreign Affairs, before a second term as Prime Minister in 2013. In March 2023, Kevin Rudd assumed his role as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States in Washington DC. Kevin is recognized as a leading analyst of China and, prior to his ambassadorship, served from as the inaugural President of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York from 2015. In 2020, he was appointed President and CEO of the Asia Society globally and, in 2022, he founded the Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

The Hon. Caroline Kennedy is currently the United States Ambassador to Australia. She previously served as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan from 2013 - 2017. In recognition of her efforts to strengthen the U.S.-Japan alliance, in November 2021 the Japanese government awarded her the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, the highest honor for which foreigners are eligible. Ambassador Kennedy is the author or editor of eleven best-selling books on constitutional law, American history, politics and poetry. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, she is Honorary President of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and a member of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Committee.

Josephine Linden (moderator) is Founder and CEO of Linden Global Strategies, a wealth management advisory firm and multi-family office. She retired from Goldman Sachs as a partner and managing director in 2009, after being with the firm for over twenty-five years. Josephine serves on public, non-profit and family boards. She is the Chairman of the Board of Lands' End, a Board Member of E&P Financial Group, and a Board Member of Advance Global Australians. She was Adjunct Professor at the Business School of Columbia University, where she taught a class in wealth management and currently teaches and moderates ad hoc sessions. She has recently stepped down from being Trustee for the Collegiate School, and still serves on the Investment Committee. She is a trustee of the Asia Society and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. Having spent her childhood and young adult life in Sydney, Josephine continues to maintain strong ties to Australia. She has created a fellowship for her alma mater, Kambala Girls School in Sydney, Australia. Each year a young graduate with interest in finance spends three months with Josephine and her team. In 2022, she was appointed an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia (AM). She received an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA from the University of Sydney. She and her husband, Thomas Linden, reside in New York City. They have three children.