Richard Neumann is Chair of the Smart Energy Council Pacific Working Group and a member of the Advisory Council of the Franco-Australian Centre for Energy Transition at Swinburne University. He is a former diplomat who served overseas in Beijing, Seoul and Taipei, and was Director of the Climate Mitigation and Investment Section in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2019 to 2024. He has a Masters Degree in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University, co-designed a Grid Integration of Renewable Energy Course with the Australian National University and managed the Australia-Germany Hydrogen from Renewable Energy Supply Chain Feasibility Study with the University of New South Wales.