About Kevin Rudd

*Kevin with his wife Thérèse, daughter Jessica, and granddaughter Josephine*

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 recognised 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.

Kevin’s forthcoming new book, On Xi Jinping: How Xi's Marxist Nationalism is Shaping China and the World, is based on his Oxford doctoral thesis. It is being published in late 2024 by Oxford University Press.

He holds honorary positions at the Asia Society; Atlantic Council; Bloomberg New Economy Forum; Center for Strategic and International Studies; Chancellor Helmut Schmidt Foundation; Chatham House; Friends of the Paris Agreement; Museum of Australian Democracy; Paulson Institute; Paris School of International Affairs; and Stephen A. Schwartzman Education Foundation. He is co-chair of an Australian charity, the National Apology Foundation, and a trustee of the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City.

In 2019, Kevin was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to Indigenous reconciliation, innovative economic initiatives, and major policy reform, and through senior advisory roles with international organisations.

Kevin started his diplomatic career in 1981 with postings to Beijing and Stockholm. In 1988, he was appointed Chief of Staff to the Hon. Wayne Goss and served him as Premier of Queensland. He was Director-General of the Cabinet Office from 1991 to 1995, and Senior China Consultant for KPMG from 1996 to 1998. He graduated with Honours in Asian Studies from the Australian National University and received his PhD from Oxford University in 2022. He also studied at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei.

Kevin is accompanied in Washington DC by his wife, Thérèse Rein. They are the proud parents of three, and grandparents of three.