Another twist for APS trailblazer Rachel Thompson’s international career

One of Treasury’s finest public servants is headed to the Philippines, where she will take the reins as the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) executive director for Australia.

Rachel Thompson will be the first Australian woman to take on the role. In this capacity, she will also represent Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Georgia, Hong Kong, China, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

“Each of our members has a stake in all of the challenges that are affecting the region, whether it’s the spillover from Russia and Ukraine and what that means for the Caucasus, the impact of climate change through the Pacific, the energy transition in Southeast Asia, and the general need to mobilise development finance coming out of the pandemic,” Thompson says.