Dave Sharma is Director and Principal at Kelly+Partners’ Government Relations, Incentives and Innovation practice. He serves on the boards of a number of publicly listed technology companies.

Dave served as Australia’s Ambassador to Israel from 2013 to 2017, a period that coincided with the take-off of digital diplomacy. He also served overseas in senior roles at Australian diplomatic missions in Washington DC and Papua New Guinea. He undertook peacekeeping duties with the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville.

In Canberra, Dave’s roles included advising the Prime Minister on Australia’s international relations, serving as adviser to then Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, managing Australia’s diplomatic presence in Africa, and serving as director of the Indonesia desk.

Dave studied law, science and international relations. He is a graduate of the University of Cambridge.