A Provocative Speaker and an Intuitive Thinker on Asian and Global Affairs

A student of philosophy and history, Kishore enjoyed an illustrious career as one of Asia's most influential diplomats and as a leading academic in Singapore. He is a Professor in the Practice of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. He previously served as the Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy from 2004 to 2017. He is credited with stablishing the school as one of the best internationally renowned institutions for public policy education and research in Asia. He serves in the Boards and Councils of institutions around the world, including the Yale President's Council on International Activities (PCIA), University of Bocconi International Advisory Committee, and as Chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Nominating Committee

He earned a strong reputation during his 33 year-long service in the Singapore Foreign Service, most notably as Singapore's Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) and twice as President of the UN Security Council in January 2001 and May 2002. He has had postings in Cambodia (where he served during the war in 1973-74), Malaysia, Washington DC and New York. He was Permanent Secretary at the Singapore Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1998. In April 2019, he was elected member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He was selected as one of Prospect magazine's top 50 world thinkers in 2014 and as one of Foreign Policy's Top Global Thinkers in 2010 and 2011. In March 2009, he was listed by the Financial Times among the Top 50 individuals who would shape the debate on the future of capitalism, and in 2011 was described by Foreign Policy as "the muse of the Asian century".

Prof. Mahbubani has spoken and published globally. His articles have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Washington Quarterly, Survival, American Interest, National Interest, Time, Newsweek, Financial Times and New York Times. He has also been profiled in the Economist and in Time Magazine

He has authored seven books: Can Asians Think?, Beyond the Age of Innocence, The New Asian Hemisphere, The Great Convergence (selected by Financial Times as one of the best books of 2013), Can Singapore Survive? and The ASEAN Miracle (co-authored with Jeffery Sng). His latest book, Has the West Lost it?,was published in April 2018.

He has held visiting appointments at Columbia University, Harvard University and Fudan University, including a year-long fellowship at the Harvard University Center for International Affairs (1991-1992).  He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy and an honorary doctorate from Dalhousie University, Canada. He graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Philosophy from the University of Singapore under a President's Scholarship. Kishore is based in Singapore.