Stephen E. Biegun is 2026 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow at the Lowy Institute and former Deputy Secretary of State of the United States. He is a recognised expert on the Korean Peninsula, US-China relations, and broader Indo-Pacific security.

Mr. Biegun brings more than three decades of international affairs experience across government and the private sector. As the State Department's second-ranking diplomat, he oversaw the full breadth of national security and foreign policy decision-making, led the department's COVID-19 response, and coordinated the evacuation of over 100,000 Americans stranded abroad during the shutdown of international travel. Earlier in his career, he served as Executive Secretary of the White House National Security Council and held senior roles in Congress, including chief of staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and national security adviser to the Senate Majority Leader. In the early 1990s, he led a Moscow-based technical assistance program working with Russia's first post-Soviet government. He also spent two decades in the private sector as a corporate vice president at Ford Motor Company and The Boeing Company. Mr. Biegun currently serves on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and the German Marshall Fund.