(From the Office of the Chairman)

The Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, Dr Michael Wesley, will step down from his role this month.

The Chairman of the Institute, Mr Frank Lowy AC, said Dr Wesley had decided not to renew his contract after leading the Institute for the past three years.

“In his time with the Institute, Michael has made an enormous contribution to the intellectual life of Australia,” he said.

“As the leader of the Lowy Institute he has built its national and international profile, bringing in substantial new research funding.

“However, I understand his desire to take on new challenges.

“Michael will remain a friend of the Institute, and I hope he will continue to contribute to its work.”

Dr Wesley said he was delighted to have been able to lead the Institute for the past three years.

“I have been privileged to lead such a talented team at the Lowy Institute, and I wish them every success in the future,” he said.

“Although I enjoyed my time at the Institute immensely, I felt I could not commit to a new term knowing that there are other opportunities I would like to pursue in the near future.”

Dr Michael Fullilove has been appointed Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy.

The Chairman of the Institute, Mr Frank Lowy AC, said today the Board was delighted to have someone of Dr Fullilove’s calibre leading the Institute.

“Michael is a gifted scholar, communicator and leader,” he said. “I have worked with him for more than a decade. He played a key part in the founding of the Institute.”

Dr Fullilove wrote the initial feasibility study for the Institute in 2002, and until his appointment as Executive Director, he was the Director of the Institute’s Global Issues Program.

“Given his experience in Washington, Michael is particularly well-placed to further the international ambitions of the Institute. I wish him well in his new role,” Mr Lowy said.

Dr Fullilove said it was an honour to be asked to lead Australia’s pre-eminent foreign policy think tank.

“Our job is to inform the national conversation on world affairs, and make an international mark,” said Dr Fullilove. “We aim to be an Australian think tank with global reach.”

“I will continue the independent, non-partisan and evidence-based approach which has guided the Institute’s work since its establishment.”

Dr Fullilove is a leading expert on international affairs. He writes widely on Australian foreign policy, US foreign policy and global issues in publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, The Washington Quarterly, The National Interest and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Australian press. He is a sought-after media commentator and speaker both in Australia and abroad. His next book, on Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Second World War, will be published by The Penguin Press in the United States and Australia in 2013.

Previously, Dr Fullilove has worked as a Visiting Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, an adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating, and a lawyer. He remains a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings.

Dr Fullilove graduated in arts and law from the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales, with dual university medals. He also studied as a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, where he took a master's degree and a doctorate in international relations.