Damien
Bruckard

Damien Bruckard is one of the Asia-Pacific’s most authoritative voices on geopolitics and business. A former Australian diplomat and trade negotiator, he has advised governments at the highest level, helped broker international agreements, and now counsels boards and executives worldwide on the forces reshaping markets.

As Co-Founder of Geopolitical Strategy, Damien advises boards, investors, and senior executives on how geopolitics shapes strategy, risk, and opportunity. His clients span finance, professional services, and industry, where he helps leaders stress-test assumptions, anticipate shocks, and chart long-term strategies in an uncertain world. He also publishes Geopolitical Dispatch, whose analysis is trusted daily by thousands of decision-makers as a benchmark for clarity and judgment.

Damien’s career has taken him from Moscow to Paris. As a diplomat at Australia’s Embassy in Russia, he is one of the few Western officials to spend significant time in Russia in recent years, travelling through the country and across the former Soviet states and even translating for Mikhail Gorbachev. In Canberra, he was one of Australia’s lead negotiators on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, securing key outcomes on investment rules. He has also worked for the United Nations in New York and taught public policy at universities across Asia and Africa.

At the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, the world’s largest business organisation, he rose to become Head of Global Engagement. There he forged partnerships with the UN, WTO, World Bank and WHO, and helped conceive the Black Sea Grain Initiative, later adopted by the UN Secretary-General and enabling millions of tonnes of Ukrainian exports during wartime.

A fluent speaker of French, Russian and Italian, Damien brings unmatched global experience to the stage. He is renowned for his ability to engage audiences with clarity, gravitas and wit.

Damien holds First Class Honours degrees in Law and Arts, has studied at Sciences Po in Paris, and completed executive education at Harvard and Cambridge Universities. Based between Paris and Melbourne, he works at the intersection of diplomacy, strategy and business helping organisations see further, think sharper, and act with confidence in uncertain times.