Jason Yat Sen Li

Jason Yat-Sen Li (b. 1972) was born to parents who came to Australia from China in 1959. As they struggled to establish themselves in business, he progressed through his Sydney schooling, obtaining an Arts/Law degree with first class honours from the University of Sydney. In 1997 he ran unsuccessfully as a Unity Party candidate in a response to Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. As Australia's Hauser Global Fellow at New York University Law School in 2000, he obtained his master's degree in law. Youth Chair of the NSW Ethnic Communities Council and cultural spokesperson for NSW Tourism during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, he was also a Director of the National Centre for Volunteering and the NSW Government's Sydney Metropolitan Strategy Group. In 2002 he travelled to the US as an Eisenhower Fellow to study the intersection of corporate, political and community interests. Beginning his career as a commercial lawyer with Corrs Chambers Westgarth, he worked for Insurance Australia Group (IAG) as Head of Sustainable Development before being appointed its Head of China Strategy. He became General Manager, Sales and Marketing for IAG's operations in China in 2004. A delegate to the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra in 2008, in 2009 he was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He is currently Managing Director of RI Group China Limited, a private equity, investment banking and strategy advisory firm headquartered in Melbourne and Beijing. He is Vice-Chair of the Australia-China Chamber of Commerce in Beijing, a Director of the George Institute for Public Health at the Sydney Institute and a governor of the Smith Family. Li is regularly called upon to explain issues relating to Australian/Chinese relations in the Australian media.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased 2011
© Lorrie Graham