Ian Kemish AM is a former senior Australian diplomat and business executive. His government career included service as Ambassador to Germany and Switzerland and High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea. He previously served as Head of both the Australian Prime Minister's International Division and the Southeast Asia Division at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ian also ran the Australian consular and crisis management service in the early 2000s. He was awarded membership of the Order of Australia for his leadership of the Australian response to the 2002 Bali bombings. In 2022 he published The Consul, an account of two decades of Australian international crisis management.

Ian left government service in 2013 to join ExxonMobil as an executive-level strategic adviser on the Asia-Pacific. He subsequently took on a C-suite leadership role with Newcrest Mining, with responsibility for international strategy, sustainability, human resources, and public affairs across the company’s global network.

Ian has supported a wide range of public and private sector clients with their Indo-Pacific strategies and remains an active supporter of the Australia-Germany relationship. He is an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, a Distinguished Advisor at the ANU’s National Security College, and an Industry Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute. He is voluntary chair of both the Kokoda Track Foundation, which promotes health, livelihood, education and leadership in Papua New Guinea, and of 3rd Space, which provides services to the homeless in Brisbane.