Emma McDonald leads Austrade’s onshore investment team for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

Emma has ten years’ experience in foreign investment attraction and project facilitation. She has an ongoing interest in working with investors, state and local governments, institutions and representatives to help bring projects to fruition. Emma brings a client-focused and commercial perspective to her work, as well as a thorough working knowledge of the machinery of government.

In her previous role Emma was responsible for leading an international effort to attract investment into Australia’s tourism infrastructure, lifting the number and quality of hotels to support growing visitor numbers. Before joining Austrade, she worked on energy projects in the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism; led the roll-out of remote indigenous housing in the Department of Families and Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs; managed public affairs in the Department of Finance; and undertook asset sales in the Australian and Victorian Governments.

Emma has formal qualifications in town planning from the University of Melbourne and is on the Advisory Board of the Griffith University Institute for Tourism.  

Kirstyn Thomson currently leads Austrade’s Australian investment attraction arm for the Americas, working closely with Austrade's clients and investment specialists in the USA, Canada and Latin America. 

Kirstyn is a former management consultant, having led a multinational global site selection practice out of Europe, where she advised corporates on real estate strategy, site selection, corporate real estate development and urban regeneration. She has also advised various governments and multilateral organisations on investment policy, investment attraction and economic development.

She is a former British diplomat and infrastructure development specialist and has advised on institutional investment and infrastructure planning and investment.  Most recently she led the UK Department for International Development’s infrastructure and urban development activities in South Asia, with a key focus on strategic urban and infrastructure planning, and infrastructure finance.

Kirstyn has lived and worked in UK, Hong Kong and Myanmar and has advised clients across Europe, USA, Asia and the Gulf.

Kirstyn has qualifications in real estate finance, infrastructure finance, international business and international politics.

Henry has 30 years’ experience in international trade and investment with advisory and government bodies. He has been based in Beijing, Taipei, Singapore and Shanghai for over 25 years. He currently leads a team of highly qualified investment specialists to facilitate productive foreign direct investment from Asia into Australia.

Prior to relocating to Australia, Henry was Senior Investment Commissioner for Greater China (2005-2021) where he led a team of highly qualified investment specialists in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Taipei, promoting and attracting significant investment into Australia, across government priority sectors.

Prior to his posting to Shanghai in 2005, he was Senior Investment Manager, SE Asia/Taiwan in Singapore (2001-2005); Investment Specialist, Biotechnology and Resource Processing in Melbourne (1999-2001); and Senior Investment Manager, Taiwan in Taipei (1997-1999).

Henry has worked in the private sector with Instate Pty Ltd, a Sydney-based international strategic consulting firm specialising in public policy and market development strategies with a focus on China, Taiwan and Japan, and with Stephen FitzGerald & Co, in Beijing and Sydney, working on bilateral trade and investment. 

Henry is fluent in Mandarin, Japanese and English. Before entering international trade and investment, Henry was Lecturer in Analytical Chemistry at Beijing Institute of Technology. Henry holds a Masters of Applied Chemistry and a Bachelor of Organic Chemistry from Nan Kai University in Tianjin, China. Henry was awarded the Australia Day Achievement Medallion in January 2007 as recognition of his contribution to the country.