Australia

Prior to joining KPMG in March 2018, Stuart was the inaugural Global Managing Partner of King & Wood Mallesons, based in Hong Kong, having led the combination of those law firms in 2012. Stuart was a partner at King & Wood Mallesons for 20 years, first practising as a capital markets, securisation and financial markets regulatory expert, and then holding a number of management and leadership roles across the firm and the capital markets industry in Australia.

Stuart is a member of the UNSW Law Advisory Council. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of laws degree from the University of New South Wales.

She was most recently the Managing Director and CEO at Export Finance Australia from 2017 to 2022, where she successfully led a significant business and cultural transformation to make the organisation more impactful and inclusive. Swati also sits on the board of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

Swati has over 30 years of banking and financial sector experience across a number of sectors, including infrastructure, natural resources, energy and utilities, renewable energy and property. She has held senior roles at National Australia Bank, Deutsche Bank, AMP Henderson Global Investors, Bankers Trust and Westpac.

Swati currently serves as Deputy Chair on the Asia Society Australia Board and is an independent member of the QIC Global Infrastructure Investment Committee. She previously served as an Advisory Board member on the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations, as a Director of State Super, Australian Hearing, Great Western Bancorp, Inc. (USA) and the NAB Wealth Responsible Entity Boards.

Previously, Nicole was the Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) at Macquarie University in Sydney, with responsibility for a global portfolio that included international business development, transnational education programs, pathways and scholarships, international relations, student and staff global mobility and international operations.

Nicole has also held similar roles at Griffith University and in the Queensland Department of Education.

Nicole holds undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Mandarin from the ANU, as well as postgraduate qualifications in Marketing and Business Management from Monash University, and the Australian Company Director’s Diploma.

She was the inaugural CEO of the National Foundation for Australia China Relations in 2020. She served as Australia’s Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau from 2017 to 2020, and on diplomatic missions in Singapore and Thailand. She also served as senior international adviser to Australian foreign and defense ministers.

Michaela has held senior trade and economic roles including leading Australia’s global investment promotion activities, and leading trade and investment operations for established markets (Americas, Europe, Japan, Korea, NZ and the Pacific) at the trade and investment commission (Austrade). She previously led Australia's development assistance program for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was a trade negotiator to the WTO and for Australia’s free trade agreements with the US and Singapore. She is one of Australia’s members of the APEC Business Advisory Council, on the Board of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee and of the Asia Society (Australia Chapter). She is an Advisory Board member for the Asian Development Bank. She is an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. She has previously served on boards for professional services, education, veterans volunteer and disaster response organizations.

She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a Bachelor of Economics and Masters in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University.  

Breakthrough Victoria will target investments in innovation and translational research with strong potential for commercialisation across five key industry sectors such as health and life-sciences, agri-food, advanced manufacturing, clean economy and digital technologies. 

Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of ARA Infrastructure, a part of Asset Management Limited, a Singapore-based integrated real assets fund manager.

Prior to joining Hastings, Grant was Australia’s Consul-General in Guangzhou, China. As Consul-General, Grant led a 120-strong team responsible for all aspects of Australia’s relationship with south China including trade development, investment attraction and political relations. This included building effective relationships with senior Chinese Party leaders, government officials and leading Chinese State-owned enterprises and private-sector companies to promote Australian Government policies and commercial interests.

Previous to his role as Consul-General in Guangzhou, Grant was a Director of the China Trade and Economic area at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra and, prior to this role, served the Australian Government overseas in Jakarta, Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. Grant has a Masters of International Affairs and a Bachelor of Asian Studies (with majors in Mandarin Chinese and Asian History) from the Australian National University.

He serves on the boards of the Asia Society Australia, the Asia Foundation Australasia, and A Rocha Australia, and the Advisory Board of the Institute of Southeast Studies in Singapore. He previously served as a director of the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue, a member of the Victorian Branch of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council, Vice-Chair of the Australian Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation (AusPECC) and as a consultant to government institutions and companies in Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, the United States and China, as well as international agencies such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the ASEAN Secretariat.

He was previously the founding President and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Monash University Indonesia, Vice President Global Development and Director of the Australian APEC Studies Centre at RMIT University, Dean of the College of Asia & Pacific at the ANU, founding Director of the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU and Professor at the University of California, San Diego.

He has published widely on Southeast Asian politics, international relations in the Asia-Pacific region and higher education. He was the founder of the Australia-Indonesia Governance Research Partnership and is the recipient of the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation for contributions to the promotion of relations between Japan and Australia (2006) and also a recipient of the Presidential Friends of Indonesia award (2010).

As an Asian-Australian, Vera sees great value in fostering cross-border relationships and is known for orchestrating success between East and West. She is a seasoned executive with a track record of successfully navigating business challenges such as restructuring, transformation, and rapid expansion into new markets in the Asia-Pacific region. She has held senior roles at Deloitte, National Australia Bank and Ernst & Young.

Vera is passionate about people and has a track record of helping others become highly successful in navigating their careers, especially across Asia and Australia.

Wayne serves on the boards of Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed Sun Hung Kai & Co. Limited and Global Invacom Group Limited, a company listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange Limited and the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market. He was previously an independent non-executive director of Floatel International Limited, a company headquartered in Norway which owns and operates a fleet of offshore accommodation vessels.

He holds various not-for-profit board / advisory roles both in Australia and Hong Kong, including Council Member of Oxfam Hong Kong. Wayne has worked extensively in Greater China & North Asia for over 20 years having lived in Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan and South Korea. He is a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.  

He was previously the Managing Partner for an international law firm in Australia from 2012 to 2020. He is also currently a Board member for Resimac Limited, an Australian and New Zealand non bank lender..

He is a member of the Business Council of Australia (since 2012) and he serves alongside leaders of corporate Australia. Until 2021 he chaired the BCA’s Workplace Relations Advisory Group, formed to place renewed focus on the need for companies to have enhanced workplace flexibility in order to remain internationally competitive and more recently the BCA response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He is a board member of Asia Society Australia (2017 to present) and was a councillor to the Australian British Chamber of Commerce from 2012 to 2020.

Su-Ming is non-executive director of Booktopia Group Limited and has been chairman/director of over 20 Australian companies operating across retail, technology, manufacturing, financial services, healthcare and tourism sectors. 

Su-Ming is a Professor of Practice at UNSW, a director of Sydney Writers’ Festival and a member of UNSW Business School Advisory Council. He was a member of the Council of University of Technology Sydney and a director of several other NGOs. A Fellow of the AICD, Su-Ming holds a ME from the University of Canterbury, NZ and a MBA from AGSM, UNSW.