The Board of the Australian Institute of International Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Heather Smith PSM FAIIA as National President of the Institute from 1 April 2023.

Dr Smith has had a distinguished career in academia, business, and the public service. In addition to senior appointments in the Treasury, the Office of National Assessments, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, she served as Secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts and, from 2017 to 2020, as Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

She is currently a Professor in the National Security College at the Australian National University and a non-executive Director of ASX Limited and Challenger Ltd. She has served on the boards of the CSIRO, Infrastructure Australia, the United States Studies Centre and China Matters.

She was educated at the University of Queensland and the ANU.

The Board is delighted that before taking up the position, Dr Smith will deliver the 2022 Sir James Plimsoll Lecture for the Tasmanian Branch of the AIIA and the University of Tasmania in Hobart on 29 November 2022 on the subject “The Decade Ahead: Disruptive, disorderly and dangerous”.

Dr Smith will succeed Mr. Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA who will step down after five years as National President.