April Palmerlee was appointed CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia in 2017 after an international career in government, education, and the corporate sector.

American-born, Palmerlee has lived in Sydney since 2003 and is a dual citizen. She is a member of Chief Executive Women and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She received a BS from Georgetown and a Master’s from Columbia. In Australia, she has worked for the University of Sydney’s US Studies Centre, the Lowy Institute for International Policy, the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), and Potomac Partners. In the United States, she held the rank of Assistant Secretary at the Department of State with the remit for international women’s issues. Before that, she was a senior executive at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. She has also worked for couturier Oscar de la Renta, financial publisher The Bank Credit Analyst, and not-for-profit The Spanish Institute. She is on the boards of CIS and Georgetown University Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies (CANZPS). She also chairs the professional scholarship selection committee at the Fulbright Commission.