Brunswick appoints senior leader to drive further growth across the Asia-Pacific region.
March 21, 2024 – Brunswick Group, the world’s leading critical issues advisory firm, today announced that Michaela Browning will join as a Partner and the CEO of Asia-Pacific on April 1, 2024.
Michaela has had a highly accomplished career in both the private and public sectors. She joins Brunswick from Google, where she served as Vice President and the Regional Head of Government and Public Policy for Asia Pacific. Before that, she held a number of senior positions in the Australian government. Prior to Google, she was the inaugural CEO of the National Foundation for Australia China Relations and Australia’s Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau from 2017-2020. She has served as the senior international advisor to Australian Foreign and Defence Ministers. She has helped design and implement economic, innovation and trade policies and regulations for Australia, led trade and investment promotion operations across the region, and negotiated trade agreements and resolved market access, trade and IP disputes. She continues to serve on a number of regional institutional, trade and Asia-focused business boards and advisory groups.
At Brunswick, Michaela will work with Lisa Foley, Managing Partner of Asia-Pacific, teams across Brunswick’s six offices in Asia-Pacific – Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo – and colleagues across the world to drive further growth in the region. She will advise clients on a range of critical issues across the geopolitical, digital transformation and cybersecurity, regulatory, financial governance and risk spheres, among other areas.
Neal Wolin, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Michaela is an accomplished strategic leader with extensive experience as a trusted advisor to senior business and political figures across Asia-Pacific. Over the last 20 years, Brunswick has built a very strong business in Asia-Pacific, which continues to present extraordinary opportunities for growth. Michaela brings deep knowledge of so many of the critical issues facing our clients in the region. She will be a fantastic leader of our teams as we seek continued success in Asia-Pacific, and I am very excited to work with her.”
On joining Brunswick, Michaela Browning said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining Brunswick. The Asia-Pacific region is fast evolving and dynamic, with unprecedented geopolitical, technological and environmental change and complex regulatory developments. There is enormous opportunity to provide organizations with advice on critical issues as they seek to navigate the extraordinary opportunities and challenges successfully, and as they build value for their stakeholders and the societies in which they operate. The Brunswick team in Asia-Pacific and across the globe are first class, and I am looking forward to engaging with them and the firm’s clients.”
About Michaela Browning
Most recently, Michaela was Vice President and the Regional Head of Government and Public Policy for Asia Pacific at Google, where she oversaw the company’s interactions with governments, institutional and corporate policy partners and civil society stakeholders in the region. In this role she was also on the Asia Pacific Operations, Global Affairs and Risk leadership committees.
Prior to this, Michaela held a range of senior positions in the Australian government, including as a senior diplomat of more than 27 years with a focus on Asia, trade and security. 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 at pivotal times. She also served as a senior international and counter-terrorism advisor to Australian foreign and defense ministers.
Michaela has held several senior trade and economic roles, including leading global investment promotion activities and operations, and the established markets operations for Australia’s Trade and Investment Commission. She previously led Australia’s development assistance program for Afghanistan and Pakistan and was a trade negotiator to the WTO and for Australia’s free trade agreements with the US and Singapore.
Michaela has served on a number of Professional, Not-for Profit and Advisory Boards. She currently serves as a member of the Digital Advisory Group for the Asian Development Bank. She is one of Australia’s representatives on the APEC Business Advisory Council; a Non Executive Director of the Asia Society Australia; a Non Executive Director of the Australia Japan Business Co-operation Committee; and an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.
She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and Masters in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University.
About Brunswick Group
Brunswick is a strategic advisory firm focused on critical issues and critical stakeholders. Our purpose is to help our clients play their role in the world successfully. We advise on critical issues and critical stakeholders at the center of business, politics and society, and help our clients – the leaders of large, complex organizations – understand and navigate these interconnected worlds. Brunswick is one firm globally, operating as a single profit center. This allows us to respond seamlessly and effectively to clients’ needs wherever they are in the world.
For more information, visit: www.brunswickgroup.com.
Contact
Chris Buscombe: [email protected]