FOUNDER & CEO · VANTAGE GEOPOL

Dr Merriden Varrall PhD, MAICD, NED

There's no shortage of information. Organisations are flooded with it. The problem is knowing what's relevant, tracking what actually matters, and knowing what to do about it. Dr Merriden Varrall's approach is simple: guess what — so what — now what.

Merriden is a geopolitical strategist and business advisor with nearly three decades of experience across government, international organisations, think tanks, and the private sector. She combines deep geopolitical expertise with genuine business acumen and strategic planning capability, translating global complexity into practical decisions: sharper strategy, better-informed investment and operational choices, and decision-making processes robust enough to hold up in an uncertain world.

Merriden is a sought-after analyst and advisor on East Asia, China's foreign policy, and Australia's bilateral relationship with China. Merriden led KPMG Australia's Geopolitics practice for 8 years, providing businesses with innovative thought leadership and strategic insights. From 2014 to 2018, she was Director of the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute. Prior to that, Merriden served as a diplomat at the United Nations Development Programme in China, where she focused on China's international development cooperation policy. She has also worked for the Australian Government, including the Australian Treasury and the Department of Family and Community Services. 

Merriden spent nearly eight years living and working in China, including lecturing in foreign policy at the China Foreign Affairs University and conducting fieldwork for her doctoral research on Chinese foreign policy. Her regional expertise centres on China, East Asia, and the Asia-Pacific, with additional experience across Europe, Africa, and South America.

What sets Merriden apart is what goes along with the analysis. As a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Non-Executive Director in her own right, alongside her advisory work with boards and executive teams at KPMG, Merriden understands how organisations actually make and execute decisions. She doesn't stop at "here's what's happening in the world", she works with leadership teams to turn that understanding into a strategy that holds up under pressure: clear positioning, practical trade-offs, and a plan the business can actually run with. It's also what makes her a sought-after keynote speaker, panellist, and leadership educator, including for the University of Sydney Business School's Executive Plus program, Macquarie University's Global Leadership program, and the European School of Management and Technology.